Justin Verlander has wanted to stay on the mound until the “wheels are falling off”.
After two decades of dominance, the future MLB Hall of Famer decided that moment has arrived.
The Detroit Tigers right-handed pitcher announced 2026 would be the final season of his decorated career on Wednesday, July 8, via social media. Verlander, 43, will hang it up after a stellar 23-year career that featured 14 seasons with the Tigers, seven with the Houston Astros and cameos with the San Francisco Giants and New York Mets.
“This season has challenged me in ways I haven’t experienced before, both physically and mentally,” Verlander wrote on social media. “I’ve always believed that as long as I could compete at the level I expect of myself, I’d keep playing. I never wanted to retire because of a milestone, a number, or a date on the calendar. I wanted the game to tell me when it was time.
“Over the last several months, I’ve realized the time has come.”
He has only made one appearance with the Tigers since returning in free agency in February, pitching 3⅔ innings with five runs allowed March 30 against Arizona in their second series of the season. He has yet to pitch at Comerica Park since signing because of hamstring and hip injuries that have isolated him on the injured list.
He nearly returned from the hip injury before sustaining the hamstring injury. He said the setback was like “plugging holes in the boat” with lengthy recoveries for relatively minor setbacks.
“A two or three-week thing turned into a couple-month-long thing, and then right when I was about to get back, something else happens,” Verlander said Wednesday in a news conference at Comerica Park. “I feel like I am plugging the holes in the boat.”
Will Justin Verlander pitch again for Tigers this season?
Verlander still eyes a return for the Tigers this season. He is set to throw a bullpen session on Thursday as he inches back to full health. He said he currently feels the best he has all summer.
“I’m exited to finish this season the only way I know how – with everything I’ve got,” he wrote.
His focus remains on the 2026 season and how he can impact winning, rather than taking time to reminisce through the big moments of his career or what the farewell message around the league will be like.
“There will be a time to really sit there and reminisce and focus more on the actual retirement as opposed to right now,” Verlander said later at Comerica Park. “My focus is to still get out there and be the best version of myself that I can be for this team.”
Justin Verlander stats
Verlander is currently MLB’s career active leader in pitcher wins (266), innings pitched (3,571⅓), games started (566) and strikeouts (3,554). Verlander’s 266 wins are tied for the 37th most all-time, and he sits eighth all-time in career strikeouts.
Though 300 wins and 4,000 strikeouts – two significant career milestones – can be seen in the distance, the math is not in Verlander’s favor. His lengthy injury recoveries, the change in starting pitching habits across baseball and a potential lockout looming in 2027 make those numbers unattainable.
“With how the game is played now and the things I have left to accomplish, I think the writing is on the wall,” Verlander said.
Verlander was also selected to the 2026 All-Star Game as a “Legend Pick”, MLB commissioner Rob Manfred announced Wednesday. It will be the 10th All-Star appearance of Verlander’s career, to go along with the 2006 AL Rookie of the Year, 2011 AL MVP, three AL CY Young awards and two World Series trophies with Houston.
Verlander joins Kevin McGonigle, Riley Greene and Dillon Dingler as the Tigers’ 2026 All-Star selections.
“It takes you right back to my first All-Star Game in San Francisco [in 2007] and the people that were in the room and the names in the jerseys in the locker room,” Verlander said. “It is going to take me right back.”
The Tigers drafted Verlander with the No. 2 overall pick in the 2004 MLB Draft out of Old Dominion. He debuted with the Tigers in 2005 and became an entrenched starter in 2006, on his way to winning Rookie of the Year and contributing to a pennant run.
In his first 13 seasons with the Tigers, Verlander is 183-144 with a 3.49 ERA and 1.19 WHIP. He won the 2011 AL Cy Young and MVP in a season where he went 24-5 with a 2.40 ERA across 34 starts and 251 innings. Verlander had four other top-five Cy Young finishes in Detroit, as well as two of his three no-hitters.
Out of all the accolades, Verlander took the most pride in the number of starts he made and innings he threw, serving as a consistent pillar of support for two decades.
“One of the things I am most proud of is how often I took the mound, how deep I went into games, how many innings I threw,” Verlander said. “I always thought just being on the mound, just pitching, was one of the greatest assets a starting pitcher can give their team.”
Verlander’s late career resurgence with the Astros resulted in more personal accolades as well as two World Series trophies. He reached that stage twice with the Tigers, losing both times in 2006 and 2012, but won the 2017 and 2022 titles in Houston.
“His influence on young pitchers, his consistent learning, his competitiveness, and dare I say edge, on the days he pitches, all of those things stand out,” said Tigers manager A.J. Hinch, who managed the 2017 World Series champions with Verlander on it after a late-season trade.
Verlander will appear on Hall of Fame ballots in 2031, five years after his retirement.
Tigers ace Tarik Skubal joked with Verlander that plenty of the all-time great starting pitchers in baseball history have returned after a first retirement announcement. But Verlander insisted 2026 will be his last.
“I don’t anticipate that,” Verlander said with a smile.
Contact Jared Ramsey at jramsey@freepress.com.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Justin Verlander reveals why he will retire, plan to pitch again for Tigers
Reporting by Jared Ramsey, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
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By Jared Ramsey, Detroit Free Press | USA TODAY Network
