Justin Verlander's latest injury comments paint more painful Alex Cobb comparisons for Tigers

Last week, Justin Verlander pitched what he told AJ Hinch was "almost a bullpen." Even though it was the most activity we've seen from him in weeks, it was ultimately a whole lot of nothing. The Tigers had just lost a game to the Twins, 11-1, and more horrors awaited them the next day. Sentimentality is powerful in this sport, but it means little when fans are watching a season gasp its last dying breaths.

Verlander has one start to show for his one-year, $13 million contract — his last year in baseball, wrapping up what is sure to be a first-ballot Hall of Fame career.

The Tigers' hopes aren't officially dead yet, but they may as well be. If Verlander manages to make it back this season, the stakes will be almost nonexistent.

Reflecting on the hamstring issue that has kept him off the mound for the year (after an initial hip issue) he said, "I did the thing I've always done my entire career, and that's try to push, smartly, through some stuff to get back. My hamstring just wouldn't allow it this time."

It makes sense; he's the oldest active(ish) players in baseball. But he added something that sounds startlingly similar to something Alex Cobb said last year: "There's some stuff in the hamstring that's not going to go away." He "could risk pulling it off completely."

Justin Verlander's latest comments seem like an unofficial goodbye to hopes of returning to Tigers

Last year, while Cobb was working through problems with his hip, he admitted that he "will eventually need a hip procedure to ensure he can live a normal, mobile life." He eventually underwent that surgery in early September — on the Tigers' dime — and has not returned to baseball since becoming a free agent at the end of the year.

The signs were there last season, when Verlander spent a few weeks on the IL with the Giants, but we didn't even need those to know he was going to be a risky signing. There's a reason few pitchers are still in the game by their late-30s, much less their mid-40s.

Tigers fans have given up on the idea of seeing Verlander take the mound again this season. Though it would be poetic if he closed out the Tigers' 2026 season on Sept. 27, even if it's a blowout, no one is holding their breath.

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