Justin Verlander Prepares for Emotional Final Start With Tigers

Justin Verlander’s final regular-season start will come Saturday against the Pirates, but the old calm that usually follows him to the mound has given way to something closer to October nerves. The Tigers right-hander is set to make the 557th regular-season start of his career, returning to pitch one more time before retirement after a rushed buildup that left no certainty about how long he can go.

Verlander has handled winner-take-all road games against the Athletics, started World Series openers for Detroit in 2006 and 2012, and logged more than two hundred postseason innings. Yet Friday brought a different kind of edge as he considered the final outing.

“I’m pretty anxious about tomorrow,” Verlander said. He compared the feeling to playoff tension, except without the familiar headphones-on routine that normally settles him before a start. “I feel a little naked right now,” he said.

No Script for the Last Start

Verlander’s road back to the Tigers mound was deliberately short. He worked through bullpen sessions and threw a one-inning simulated game in Chicago last weekend, bypassing both a rehab assignment and a longer simulated outing so he could pitch before the season ended.

That leaves the usual Verlander planning in unfamiliar territory. Over his career, he learned how to manage his effort early, preserve his arm and work deeper into games. Saturday will be different: he does not know how his stuff will play, how long his endurance will hold or what kind of result awaits.

Manager A.J. Hinch will eventually make the walk from the dugout and take the ball, but neither manager nor pitcher has marked an inning or pitch count for the moment.

“There’s no script,” Verlander said. “I want to go as long as I can.” He said he skipped roughly a month of rehabilitation work to make this appearance possible, while acknowledging that the uncertainty begins once he moves beyond about 20 pitches.

The anxiety, Verlander said, has arrived in a good form. He enjoys the feeling, even if it has been stronger than he expected heading into a weekend unlike any other in a career that has included nearly every kind of high-pressure stage.

A Detroit Farewell Before First Pitch

The heavier emotions came Friday night, when the Tigers honored Verlander’s career at Comerica Park. His family watched from behind home plate, joined by Hinch, former Tigers catcher Alex Avila and former teammate Brandon Inge. The current club looked on from above the dugout as Verlander came up the steps, crossed a blue carpet and accepted retirement gifts from Inge and former Detroit pitching coach Jeff Jones.

Verlander thanked the Ilitch family, the late Al Kaline, Avila, former teammate and current Pirates manager Don Kelly, and longtime Tigers skipper Jim Leyland. His loudest appreciation was reserved for the Detroit fans.

“We’ve been through a lot over the years,” Verlander said. “Your love and support has meant the world to me.” He said that backing has made clear that he is, and always will be, a Detroit Tiger.

The ceremonial first pitch supplied the night’s family moment. Verlander put on a catcher’s gear behind the plate for a pitch thrown by his daughter, Genevieve.

He said the two had been practicing, including a trip onto the field to throw from the mound. When he asked Genevieve whether she wanted to throw from there, she chose the mound without hesitation.

At home, she has recently begun asking to play catch in the backyard, a development Verlander said has meant plenty because he has not pushed her toward the game. She is currently ahead as a thrower rather than a receiver, he joked, so there is still work to do before he can really let his own throws go.

After Saturday, that may be where the next chapter starts: not with a packed stadium or a postseason bullpen phone, but with a baseball, a glove and his daughter asking for another catch.