Verlander has a chance to be last of a dying breed
Baseball has not had a 300-game winner since Randy Johnson in 2009. It’s fair to wonder if he’ll be the last.
Starters averaged only 5.21 innings this season. Getting into the seventh inning, the expectation at the turn of the century, has backtracked to getting through the order twice. If that’s five innings, great. If not, that’s OK.
Managers more often than not start games planning to go to the bullpen in the sixth. The idea of a starter deserving to go deeper if he is pitching well is negated by wanting to use relievers to create better matchups.
Save us, Justin Verlander.
The Houston Astros ace turns 40 in February and has no plans to stop pitching any time soon. He has 244 victories and counting.
“I love the game. I love competing,” Verlander said when asked why he keeps coming back. “I’ve always been one of those, I don’t know, it’s just never been a doubt in my mind.”
Verlander has made $317.5 million in his career and should be a first-ballot Hall of Famer. But the expectation is he will decline his $25 million option for next season and see what free agency holds.
He will not lack for opportunities after going 18-4 with a 1.75 earned run average. Verlander was hit hard in Game 1 of the Division Series by Seattle, allowing six runs over four innings. But he came back and held the Yankees to one run in six innings in Game 1 of the ALCS.
“I just want to play until they rip the jersey off me,” Verlander said. “I’m not going to be out there making a fool of myself, don’t get me wrong. It’s just the way I’ve always envisioned it. You see the greats of the past, and those guys pitched into their 40s. It was never a question in my mind that if you want to be great that’s what you have to do.
“So I’ve prepared myself to do that since I started throwing a baseball. I think with that mentality, you have a long-term vision and goal, and I don’t know, maybe I just manifest it.”
Verlander is the only pitcher you can imagine getting to 300 victories at this point. Zack Greinke, who could retire, is next with 223. From there you drop all the way down to 38-year-old Max Scherzer with 201.
An additional 56 victories would require at least another four years. But Verlander gave the Astros 28 starts and 175 innings this season and he believes that’s a baseline for the future given that his arm is healthy after essentially missing all of the 2020-21 seasons recovering from Tommy John surgery.
“He’s a human freak. He’s the only one who can get to 300,” said Pedro Martinez, who finished his career with 219 victories.
“Beyond Verlander, I am comfortable saying no, no more 300. The main reason is the money they make and the way the game is played now. It’s not going to allow somebody to play that long and sacrifice their bodies for that long and at the time get enough repetitions to get 300.”
Verlander said baseball defined his life until he married model Kate Upton in 2017. They now have a daughter.
Sharing his career with them is part of his motivation.
“I would never want to look back with regret that I didn’t find out how far I could take this,” Verlander said. “I obviously was gifted to throw a baseball, you know, so why would I stop that short?”