Fans know what needs to happen for Justin Verlander to go into the Hall of Fame as a Tiger

Justin Verlander’s return to the Detroit Tigers feels right for so many reasons. Yet, at the same time it complicates his legacy in one really important way because it creates an awkward question as it pertains to Verlander’s eventual induction into the Hall of Fame.

Typically, the team featured on a player’s Hall of Fame plaque is the one that they are most commonly identified with. In the case of Verlander, one could make a pretty strong case for two teams: the Tigers and the Houston Astros.

Of course, there’s the fact that Verlander was drafted by the Tigers and developed into one of the best pitchers in the game while he was with Detroit. He won his first Cy Young Award and was named the American League MVP with the Tigers back in 2011, but he has some great accolades from his time with the Astros as well.

After being traded to the Astros in 2017 — a trade that ended up looking pretty bad from Detroit's perspective — Verlander went on to win a Cy Young Award in 2019 and 2022. The 2022 award was made all the more impressive by the fact that he missed all of 2021 due to an injury. 

Then there is also the fact that the two World Series rings Verlander has are from 2017 and 2022, both with the Astros. He also made it to a third World Series with Houston in 2019 but lost.

He made it to one World Series with Detroit back in 2012 but it didn’t exactly go Verlander’s way as Pablo Sandoval and the San Francisco Giants shocked the baseball world in four games.

Verlander undecided on which team will be featured on Hall of Fame plaque

It’s a complicated question, which is why Verlander said he is not ready to answer which team he wants on his Hall of Fame plaque. However, Tigers fans know there is one thing that could tip the scale in favor of Detroit: if the Tigers win the World Series this season. 

That would be the ultimate storybook finish to Verlander’s career. He comes back at the age of 43 to the team that drafted him over twenty years ago and delivers a title to a franchise that has been desperately searching for one for so long. At that point, as long as Verlander is healthy and plays a key role in winning a World Series, he would have to go into Cooperstown as a Tiger.

Of course, that’s a long way off. A lot has to go right for a team to win a World Series but the Tigers have a reasonable shot. They have a great rotation and they have made the playoffs each of the last two seasons so things are very much trending in the right direction.

There is not an equivalent in the American League to the perennial behemoth that the Dodgers are in the National League so as long as the Tigers make it into the playoffs they have a shot. 

If they can pull it off, not only will they bring home their first title since 1984 but they will also ensure that Verlander will forever be associated with the Tigers.