Justin Verlander Set for Final Start of Season as Tigers Host Pirates
The short version
- Justin Verlander's final start of the season comes Saturday against the Pittsburgh Pirates.
- It will be his first home start for the Tigers since August 20, 2017.
- Elias says Zack Greinke holds the longest gap between home starts for one team: 11 years, 189 days with the Royals.
- Verlander pitched for Detroit from 2005 to 2017, then won World Series titles with Houston in 2017 and 2022.
- He has thrown 3.2 innings this season, allowing five earned runs.
The 43-year-old right-hander will make his first home start for Detroit since August 2017, echoing a gap last matched by Zack Greinke in Kansas City.
Justin Verlander is scheduled to take the mound for the Detroit Tigers on Saturday against the Pittsburgh Pirates, in what will be the final start of his season. The game carries extra weight for a Detroit club winding down a disappointing year.
According to MLB Network's Jon Paul Morosi, a former Tigers beat writer, Saturday will mark Verlander's first home start for Detroit in nine years and 37 days, dating to August 20, 2017. Citing the Elias Sports Bureau, Morosi noted that the longest such gap between home starts for one team belongs to Zack Greinke, who went 11 years and 189 days between home starts for the Kansas City Royals.
Verlander's path back to Detroit began when the Tigers drafted him in 2004 out of Old Dominion. He pitched for the organization from his rookie season in 2005 through 2017, when his final Detroit appearance before the trade came on the road against the Texas Rangers. In that outing he worked six innings, struck out 11 and allowed two earned runs in a 12-2 win.
He was then traded to the Houston Astros, with whom he won the World Series in 2017 and again in 2022. Verlander re-signed with the Tigers this past offseason, setting up his return to Comerica Park.
Tigers manager AJ Hinch described Saturday's start, scheduled for a 1:10 p.m. first pitch, as emotional and important for the 43-year-old pitcher. Verlander has appeared in just one game this season, throwing 3.2 innings and surrendering five earned runs.
The start has drawn attention as part of a farewell tradition among notable big-league pitchers, with Greinke's late-career return to the Royals cited as a parallel. Verlander also made headlines with a 100-pitch declaration ahead of the outing, signaling he intends to give fans a full effort.
Fans hoping to catch the Pirates-Tigers series can see Pittsburgh visit Detroit at Comerica Park on Friday, September 25 at 6:40 PM EDT, with the game available on MLB.TV and Tigers.TV.
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