Tigers fans can't believe the significance of the date Justin Verlander returned to Detroit

Justin Verlander's return to the Detroit Tigers feels serendipitous for a lot of reasons. He is back with the team where he established himself as one of the best pitchers in baseball, but fans also pointed out one eerie coincidence.

Verlander signed with the Tigers on February 10, which was nine years to the day after former Tigers owner Mike Ilitch passed away. Ilitch was beloved by Detroit sports fans since he was a Detroit native who owned both the Detroit Red Wings and the Tigers.

"Mr. I" as he was known colloquially, did everything he could to bring a World Series title to Detroit. Verlander even spoke about the late owner's pursuit of a title recently and said that he feels a similarly strong desire to win with the current club. The Ilitch family still owns the team so that pursuit of a title has not waned at all.

Tigers reunited with Justin Verlander on the anniversary of Mike Ilitch's death

Detroit actually has a shot to make a deep playoff run this season with Verlander back in the fold. The rotation looks strong with Tarik Skubal and Framber Valdez forming a formidable duo atop it and Verlander proved that he still has some gas left in the tank last season with the San Francisco Giants.

In 29 starts, the soon to be 43-year-old had a 3.85 ERA. Surprisingly, he seemed to get better as the year went on. While he struggled a bit initially and there were some serious questions about whether the Giants needed to move on from him midseason, he got in the zone the last few months of the season and actually became San Francisco's most reliable pitcher down the stretch.

Now, he is joining a team that has made the playoffs each of the last two seasons and appears primed to make a deeper run this time around.

Verlander himself has hinted at a changing of the guard in the American League, and while there are certainly more talented AL teams ahead of Detroit on paper, if they can get to the playoffs and are healthy their pitching staff could create real problems for any opponent.

The future Hall of Famer even had $11 million of his $13 million contract deferred to help the club stay under the luxury tax threshold, so this is a guy who is in it to win it.

That's the exact kind of attitude that would have made Ilitch proud, so maybe that significant date is a little wink from the baseball gods that Detroit is building something special in 2026.