Justin Verlander changed everything for Detroit — and for me

An era ends today. Justin Verlander will step on the mound at Comerica Park wearing the Olde English D one last time, and the playing career of the greatest Detroit Tigers pitcher of our generation will come to a close.

I've thought all week about what to write. About how I'll feel. This isn't the first big retirement for the Tigers. Miguel Cabrera played his last game in 2023. But this is the last one in a period of time that meant so much for the team and truly gave me a career I never expected.

Justin Verlander changed everything for Detroit

He was a first-round draft pick in 2004. He made his MLB debut in 2005. Those aren't just bullet points on a professional resume. They tie directly to some of the darkest days of the franchise's long history, connecting a time we wish we could forget to a time we'll never forget.

In 2001 the club lost 96 games. In 2002, 106. In 2003, an astounding 119, narrowly avoiding becoming the worst record in major league history. And their reward came the following June: a 21-year-old right hander named Justin Verlander out of Old Dominion University, taken with the second pick of the 2004 draft.

Two years later in 2006, a rookie in his first full season, Verlander was the best starting pitcher in the rotation, racking up the most wins while posting the lowest ERA. The Tigers went off on a hot start, did just enough to make the playoffs, then steamrolled their way to the World Series. For his accomplishments, he won the AL Rookie of the Year award.

Over the next 12 years, the Tigers won four consecutive division titles, made three consecutive ALCS appearances, and were back in the World Series another time. From 2006-2016, the team finished under .500 just twice. They had some of the best pitchers in franchise history, coupled with one of the great hitters, too. In many ways, it was a golden age for the Detroit Tigers.

Verlander earned the 2011 pitching Triple Crown, 2011 Cy Young Award, and 2011 MVP. He made six All-Star Game appearances in the Tigers' uniform.

And then, late on night in August of 2017, he was traded to the Astros. And he was gone. He went on to win two more Cy Young Awards and two World Series titles. The Tigers went on to lose 310 games across a three-year span, 2017-2019. Only the COVID-shortened 2020 season kept them from losing 100 more in 2020.

Justin Verlander changed everything for me

At the start of Verlander's career, you could find me in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, writing for The Mining Journal in Marquette. I graduated from Michgan State University a few years earlier with an unrelated degree, spent a couple of years in grad school studying for another unrelated degree at Michigan Tech, but in the end found I liked writing, and I liked telling stories. There were plenty of stories to be found and, thankfully, plenty of readers who were interested in how I told them.

All the while I still remained a fan of baseball, despite the Tigers' best attempts otherwise. I found opportunities to write columns about the Tigers when I could, with one memorable one being about my mixed feelings of calling for Alan Trammell to be fired. I remember the excitement before Verlander's MLB debut against Cleveland in 2005, even if the start itself was forgettable for every other reason. I enjoyed my conversations about the team with an American Legion baseball coach from Negaunee and just wanted to write more.

In 2006, the Tigers started hot — winning five straight. Then they lost four. Then they won a few more. On April 23, they were 12-7. I read every word I could about the team. On April 24, I created my own website, Mack Avenue Tigers. Thanks to a check with the Wayback Machine, I know that I wrote in my first post that my goal was to "try to bridge the gap (between beat writers and fans) and fill (it) in with what interests me, hoping there are other readers out there with the same interests." That's been the thesis statement of my entire career since.

What a ride I had in the years after it. I spent several years running my own site while still writing at the newspaper, then accepted an invitation from SB Nation to run Bless You Boys after Ian Casselberry moved on. My friend Matt Watson helped me spin that into a job copy editing and later running the news desk at SB Nation. Thanks to that, I got to edit a nationally sold magazine from Maple Street Press, choosing the stories and the authors, picking every photo from the front cover to the back.

Tony Paul helped me get a job writing two columns per week at the Detroit News. I've been in the cluhouse in Lakeland, Florida, and Comerica Park, both. Fans statewide somehow knew who I was and strangers would stop me for conversations. Later, The Athletic reached out to me as well to put some digital ink on their site as well. And today I am at FanSided, with literally hundreds of websites and writers who I get to help. I don't write as much any more, but I feel fortunate to have this site for when I have something to say.

I had no idea when I registered that domain way back then that it was the beginning of a direct path to where I am today. Without all the interest and excitement around the Tigers — without my excitement in being able to tell the story — I don't get all those amazing opportunities that I had.

Justin Verlander doesn't get the sole credit for that, but I've always thought of him as part of my personal story because I do not believe I'd be where I am today without what he has meant to the Tigers.

And now he's retiring and I'm wondering how a little fun hobby I did on the side turned into my lifelong career. Twenty years goes fast.

Justin Verlander's last pitch

Justin Verlander has missed most of this season with a variety of injuries that could probably best be summarized by saying the years of being one of the greatest professional athletes his sport has ever seen finally caught up to him. I was glad to get a chance to see him pitch in Lakeland in spring training. I don't remember the result — only that it felt excessively cold as a now-Floridian — but I do remember the chills as he went out to the mound and Eminem's "Till I Collapse" began playing. The roar of the crowd seeing their superstar come home for one last run. It was incredible.

It didn't go like anyone wanted. He pitched, poorly, in his only regular-season start so far this year before a stint on the Injured List explained it. It looked for a while like that may be the last time we'd get to see him play.

Ahead of the All-Star Game this year, Verlander announced his retirement and was made a Legend Pick. He couldn't pitch, but he got a chance to enjoy it all one last time as a player. Earlier this month, the Tigers announced Verlander Weekend for Sept. 25-26. With each announcement, the reality became more ... real.

At 1:10 p.m. today and in the hours after, from 1,000 miles away, I'll be thinking about about two decades. About the heights of joy I got to experience as a fan, the depths of the disappointments. The no-hitters. The season-ending defeats. The feeling that somewhere between 2006-2016, the Tigers should have had a World Series ring because teams as great as those deserve to be remembered with a date you put on the outfield wall and burn into baseball history forever. The fact I got to see one of the greatest pitchers in franchise — and baseball — history, play for my team, my city.

I'll be thinking about everything that was going on alongside that too. Of vacations taken during those summers, of places lived, of houses owned, of new experiences had, of pets and people who enjoyed it with me who are no longer here, and of course the pets and people who still are and get to watch with me. A lot has changed. A lot of life has been lived.

Time stops for no one. Not Justin Verlander. Not me. The only guarantee is change. Let's do this for one last time.

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