Former Tigers ace Justin Verlander cements Cooperstown fate with career milestone

Former Detroit Tigers ace Justin Verlander is MLB's active strikeout king, and even at age 42 he has no intention of hanging up his cleats anytime soon. He proved that yet again over the weekend in his most recent start for the San Francisco Giants.

Verlander struck out Washington Nationals first baseman Nathaniel Lowe to end the first inning of his start on Sunday, picking up his 3,500th career strikeout to join an exclusive club for MLB pitchers. Verlander is just the 10th Major League pitcher ever to record 3,500 strikeouts and the first to do it since Randy Johnson on May 21, 2002.

Verlander recorded the majority of those strikeouts – 2,373 of them, to be exact – while wearing the Old English "D." The Tigers selected him No. 2 overall in the 2004 MLB Draft, and he went on to spend the next 13 years with the franchise. During that time, he won the American League Rookie of the Year Award in 2006 and an MVP as well as the first of his three Cy Young Awards in 2011. He also represented the Tigers at the MLB All-Star Game six times before a trade to the Houston Astros in 2017.

Former Tigers ace Justin Verlander cements Cooperstown fate with career milestone

It's tempting to wonder what might have been if the Tigers had signed Verlander this offseason instead of Alex Cobb, who had been considering retirement before he agreed to a one-year, $15 million deal with Detroit that is identical to the one Verlander signed in San Francisco. Cobb has yet to appear in a game for Detroit due to numerous injuries, and it's entirely possible that Tigers fans will never see him pitch.

With a 1-9 record and 4.53 ERA in 99 1/3 innings for the Giants this season, Verlander is several years removed from being the true shutdown ace Tigers fans remember. But the three-time Cy Young winner recently told reporters that he plans to return to pitch in 2026 in what would be his 21st Major League season.

Regardless, Verlander's latest milestone all but confirms that whenever he does decide to call it a career, he will already have a spot in Cooperstown waiting for him. We're just hoping he goes in wearing a Tigers hat.

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