Detroit Tigers: Justin Verlander to Start Opening Day

For the eighth time in his long and extremely successful career, Justin Verlander will take the bump on Opening Day for the Detroit Tigers. The Tigers will do battle with the Miami Marlins in Florida to open the season. That also means Verlander gets to hit.

Stop me if you’ve heard this before, but Justin Verlander will start on Opening Day for the Detroit Tigers. For the eighth time in the last nine years, Verlander will take the hill for the Tigers on the first day of the season. Detroit opens the campaign on the road against the Miami Marlins for two games slated for Tuesday, April 5 and 6. The Tigers return home later in the week for the team’s home opener against the New York Yankees on Friday, April 8.

The Detroit News’ Chris McCosky passed on the news via a tweet, mentioning the latest from manager Brad Ausmus that, “barring injury, Verlander will be opening day starter.”

While this will be Verlander’s eighth career Opening Day start, it will be the first he’s made in the National League. The longtime Tiger has made three Opening Day starts at Comerica Park, and one at each of Toronto’s (then) SkyDome, Kansas City’s Kauffman Stadium, the Yankees’ Yankee Stadium and Minnesota’s Target Field. Surprisingly, Verlander’s record over those games is only 1-1 with six no decisions. Detroit has won four of his seven starts on the first day of the season.

Last Season

Verlander is coming of a season in which he finished far and away as the team’s best pitcher. In 20 starts, the Cy Young winner posted a 3.38 ERA, a 3.49 FIP and 113 strikeouts in 133.1 innings pitched. His record was only 5-8, but Verlander improved in almost every statistical category, and threw a complete game for the first time since 2012. For the season, the ace posted a 2.2 WAR. 

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The MVP’s best work came over his final 14 starts. During those 99.1 innings pitched from late July to October, Verlander struck out 91 batters while holding hitters to a .207 batting average and a .249 on-base percentage. He only allowed five home runs over that stretch while posting a miniscule 2.27 ERA.

If he can continue to pitch at that level, the Detroit Tigers will be back in playoff contention in no time.

Batting

Verlander has long been in search of success at the plate. After going hitless with 15 strikeouts in his first 26 plate appearances, JV broke out with two hits in six at-bats in 2014. While he didn’t get the chance to come to the plate in 2015, Verlander proved his worth in 2014 with a run scored and a 0.1 WAR as a batter.

Next: Tigers Can Only Receive an A for Offseason

A trip to Miami to start on Opening Day will certainly mean more trips to the plate for the ace.