Justin Verlander responds to All-Star nod with announcement Tigers fans saw coming

On Wednesday, MLB announced Justin Verlander as the American League All-Star team's "Legend Pick," a choice that comes straight down from the Commissioner. It marks the 10th All-Star selection in his incredible 21-year career.

Bryce Harper is the National League Legend Pick (a curious choice, to say the least), and he and Verlander follow in the footsteps of Clayton Kershaw, Rob Manfred's sole choice in 2025. Kershaw had yet to announce his intention to retire when he got the nod, but Dodgers fans knew he was getting close to the end.

Tigers fans have had the same sneaking suspicion about Verlander this season. His place on the All-Star roster will be purely ceremonial, given that he's been sidelined with injury since April. After his most recent setback, he said, "I've always said I want to play until the wheels fall off. And I don't know, maybe they are falling off."

Less than half an hour after MLB announced the Verlander pick, he took to Twitter and Instagram to share a message Tigers fans could already feel coming. After over two decades in the major leagues, Verlander will retire at the end of the year.

Justin Verlander announces retirement after being named AL All-Star Game Legend Pick

As frustrating as it's been for everyone involved to see Verlander dealing with setback after setback this season, it's only right that he's officially bookending his career with the team that made him. Some fans might still quibble with the amount of money the Tigers gave him, or argue that re-signing him was purely a PR move, but at the end of the day, they're going to be bawling with the rest of us when Verlander officially says goodbye to Comerica.

Let's review. 21 seasons, 556 games started, 3,571 1/3 innings pitched, 26 complete games, nine shutouts, 3,554 strikeouts, and a career 3.33 ERA. That's three years more than fellow three-time Cy Young winners Kershaw and two more than Max Scherzer, over 100 games started more than Kershaw and almost 80 more than Scherzer. Verlander, Kershaw, and Scherzer are the last of their kind, and now two out of three of them have called it quits.

Even though Tigers fans saw this a mile away, and Verlander is wise not to push himself further when he's clearly at the end of his rope, this is a gut-wrenching loss for the game.

Hopefully he'll be able to make it back for one last start at Comerica before the season is over — we're just asking for one. We need to give our future Hall of Famer a proper sendoff.

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