Justin Verlander's final ride with Detroit Tigers is a generation-linking celebration

“My cousin and her husband, who is my best friend, are bringing their young son, my godson, up from Orlando for this weekend,” said Tigers’ three-time All-Star Riley Greene before the game. “I’m so excited for him. I told them, ‘You guys are going to be here for Justin Verlander’s last game. He’s going to be able to watch greatness, one of the best pitchers ever.’

“Maybe he’s not going to realize it now, but he will someday.”

The 43-year-old Verlander took the mound against the Pittsburgh Pirates on Saturday, making his 557th and final start. He was pulled with one out in the sixth inning and his team trailing 2-0. He allowed two earned runs, both on solo homers, while walking one and striking out six. It all took place at Comerica Park, smack in the middle of a weekend-long celebration of his Hall of Fame-worthy career.

And, as baseball tends to do, it’s an event that ties generations together. When Verlander walked onto the field Saturday, he carried two-plus decades of memories for Tigers fans. Many of his former teammates from his prime years in Detroit, which span from 2006 through 2016, were expected to be part of the festivities.

His current teammates, too, are part of this multi-generational celebration. Greene, Spencer Torkelson and Kerry Carpenter were also on hand when the Tigers gave another future Hall-of-Famer, Miguel Cabrera, his final sendoff in 2023.

“Total honor,” Torkelson said. “These are two all-time greats, and to not only be able to witness it, but to be a part of it, it’s special. It’s going to be a special day.”

Rookie Kevin McGonigle was born in 2004, the year before Verlander debuted with the Tigers.

"I learned so much from him," McGonigle said. "Just when it comes to playing every day. This is my first year doing it, and he's done it for 20-some seasons. Being able to ask a guy like that how he gets through these long seasons and what he does for his body to maintain strength and the ability to play every day, it's really cool connecting with that. And also just jawing back and forth: what he would do against me and what I'd do against him. It's been awesome."

Carpenter, whose season has been over since the end of July, made a point of being back here with the team this weekend. And not only to continue his rehab work with the team’s physical therapists.

“It’s just surreal,” he said. “I grew up watching Justin Verlander, watching him win Cy Youngs and being a dominant pitcher in the World Series. It’s amazing to be able to have played with Miggy (Miguel Cabrera) and now JV. I can’t wait to soak all that in on Saturday.”

Carpenter vividly remembers his first encounter with Verlander in spring training.

“It was in the clubhouse in Lakeland, and I walked around the corner, and he was just there,” Carpenter said. “I was like, ‘I’m Kerry.’ And he’s like, ‘I’m Justin.’ I still get a little starstruck when I’m around some of the best players who’ve ever played this game, and I’ll never forget it.

“My family was like, ‘Can you believe you are playing with Justin Verlander?’ And I’m like, ‘I actually can’t believe it.’ ”

From Greene’s godson, to fans who cheered through the Tigers’ mighty division championship and postseason runs in the 2010s, to this current crop of young players, this final performance resonates as more than a celebration of Verlander’s remarkable collection of trophies, rings and accolades.

And nobody is more aware of that than he is.

“This is not just for me,” Verlander said. “There are a lot of great memories for me, but also for the fans and for the city.”

In every city across the league this season, Verlander has heard from fans beseeching him to keep going, to give them one more chance to see him pitch. And he has used that as fuel through six months of rehab and recovery from a strained hamstring.

“The love the fans here have shown me, even when I’m not out there pitching, in the stadium, in visiting stadiums, around the city, it’s meant so much to me, and it’s really helped me through this process,” he said.

Great pitcher, better teammate

The three Cy Young Awards, the MVP award, the pitching Triple Crown, the two World Series rings and three no-hitters define Verlander’s legacy as a pitcher. But what he accomplished while not playing this season, in a clubhouse full of young Tigers players, will define his legacy as a human being and teammate.

“It was just really cool to get to know him,” Carpenter said. “He’s a better teammate than he is a pitcher.”

It’s not easy for a 43-year-old living legend to assimilate and be a presence in any clubhouse when you’re not on the field competing. It was not a problem for Verlander. At all.

“You just try to be a sponge,” veteran reliever Kyle Finnegan said. “There’s a lot of big-time stuff that’s come out of his experiences. The way he talks about pitching and attacking hitters.”

Infielder Colt Keith was sitting next to Verlander in the dugout during a recent game against the White Sox. The scoreboard showed a stat indicating the batter, Kyle Teel, had a high batting average with runners in scoring position.

“We were talking, and Justin was like, ‘What does that mean?’” Keith said. “Then he said, it probably means he hits off-speed pitches well. Pitchers don’t throw fastballs as much in pressure situations. I was like, wow, I never really thought about it like that. He sees little things that a normal person or player might not see.”

If you watched enough games on television this season, you often saw Greene sitting next to Verlander, most times silently nodding.

“Just a great dude,” Greene said. “You can tell how much he loves the game of baseball, just the way he talks. He’s very passionate about it. It’s been awesome just to sit and listen. Really, that’s what it’s been for me. I just sit there and listen and take it all in.”

Finnegan’s locker in the Tigers’ clubhouse at Comerica Park is kitty-cornered from Verlander’s. Finnegan is quiet by nature, but he’s kept his ears wide open all season.

“Being next to him has been a blessing,” he said. “Just to be able to feed off that wisdom and experience he’s had in the game. He understands you can be an asset to a team even if you can’t play on the field. Just by keeping the camaraderie up and keeping it light when guys are going through a tough time and cheering them on through good times.

“He kind of stepped into that fatherly role for some of the young players, too. He has experienced everything in this game, and he has something for everyone.”

Verlander used the game of chess, of all things, to break the ice. He wasn’t an accomplished chess player when he showed up in Lakeland in February. But he noticed some of his younger teammates played. Soon, every morning, he and a teammate were hunched over a board, intently plotting their moves.

“I think he’s going to be really good,” pitcher Troy Melton said with a chuckle. “He’s played a lot, and he takes it seriously, which I think is his personality. The last couple of times he beat me. Maybe he’s better than me now. But I was definitely the stronger player; I just don’t play as much as him. He’s more practiced.”

Reliever Tyler Holton and Verlander had some quasi-epic battles on the chessboard, too.

“I saw him playing in spring training,” Holton said. “I never really played growing up. I knew how the pieces worked, but I just didn’t play. I learned it because I was like, if the guys are playing, I want to play as well. Me and Ver have had some good games.

“I wouldn’t say we were very good (laughs), but we have some good games. Just because you don’t know who is going to make the first mistake or if the other person will even catch on.”

Count Holton was among those who were a bit in awe when Verlander first showed up.

“When I heard that we signed him, I was in disbelief,” he said. “Just because, you know, the name. You’ve seen him playing so much on TV growing up. Always looked up to him and everything he’s done for the game. Then to share a locker room with him is weird. Like, for it to actually be a reality.

“But he’s been great. He’s always open to talk ball. He loves baseball, and it’s been fun to learn through him and hear what he has to say about the game and hear his thoughts about pitching and just the game itself.”

Verlander didn’t just talk to the pitchers this season. Just like he did with Keith, he often pointed out nuances to the hitters as well.

“He has a special baseball brain, and we are always trying to pick it,” Torkelson said. “I think he’s helped everyone in this clubhouse, just being here and talking shop.”

He also provided an object lesson on perseverance and grit. How many 43-year-old players with his resume would have rehabbed for six months for one last start?

“That speaks volumes about who he is as a person and competitor,” Torkelson said. “He easily could’ve packed it in and said, hey, it’s not my time. But he’s a grinder, and he loves this game. He’s given this game everything he’s got. He’s earned this celebration on Saturday.”

Wouldn't change a thing

Verlander, for sure, has earned a special sendoff. And the fanbase deserves a chance to send him off properly. Eventually, he will have a plaque in Cooperstown and his No. 35 jersey will be on the bricks at Comerica (soon to be Fifth Third) Park. And maybe this final year in Detroit will end up as a full-circle postscript to his career more so than the final chapter.

But it’s been invaluable to those who got to share it with him.

“Special,” said catcher Dillon Dingler. “It’s status, right? He’s a first-ballot Hall-of-Famer, one of the best to ever do it and that’s always there. But it was cool talking to him on a normal level, talking about other things besides baseball, too.

“We’ve gone out to dinner multiple times. Obviously, you only get to play with or come into contact with this caliber of player maybe once in your career. Maybe never. You just try to soak that up all you can.”

Verlander has skipped steps in the rehab process to get to this day, to get to this last moment. He’s not fully built up. There’s been no minor league rehab. He’s not faced hitters, but for one live bullpen, since early June.

He’s risking serious injury, actually, by taking the ball Saturday. The hamstring could tear.

Doesn’t matter.

“It’s what I’ve done my whole career,” Verlander said. “I want to be out there. I want to pitch, to be able to do it, not only for me, but for the fans one last time.”

There’s also a big part of him, speaking of linking generations, who wants to do it for a certain 7-year-old girl, his daughter, Genevieve, who, along with mother Kate Upton and the rest of his family, will be part of the festivities this weekend.

“It’s everything,” said Verlander, choking up a bit. “Ever since she was part of my life, it’s been a whole different avenue. Just to be able to include her. I remember when she was born saying I wanted to play long enough for her to remember things. Now here we are. I hope she remembers this weekend.”

Whether it’s a Billy Chapel moment or just the final curtain call, it’s been a helluva ride for Justin Brooks Verlander.

“Yeah, I don’t know if I’d change much,” Verlander said. “It would be pretty ignorant of me at this point. To have gotten to this point and to be happy and pleased with the way things have gone and to be happily looking forward to the future — obviously, there were mistakes along the way — but I wouldn’t change a thing.”