Justin Verlander's Ominous ALDS Inning Means Trouble for the Detroit Tigers

Friday night’s rain-suspended ALDS opener at Yankee Stadium exposed an inconvenient truth for the Detroit Tigers: Their brilliant pitcher Justin Verlander could be hitting the proverbial wall this postseason. 

Verlander, the Tigers’ ace and odds-on favorite for the AL Cy Young award, had his second straight rocky outing, even if only for an inning. Verlander led the AL with a career-high 251 innings pitched in the regular season, and if his needle is suddenly starting to point to E, then Detroit’s road to the World Series will be all the more difficult. 

The Detroit ace's last regular season starting assignment was against the lowly Baltimore Orioles on September 24. Verlander was hoping to become MLB’s first 25-game winner since 1990, but he labored through 7 innings, throwing 120 pitches, and surrendering five earned runs on eight hits, including two homers. Detroit lost to the Orioles, 6-5. 

However, surely this was an aberration, and the dominant Verlander would return to form for the playoffs, right?

Last night’s ominous 1-inning outing in the Bronx downpour suggested otherwise. 

Verlander was not sharp. He immediately showed more of the lack of command that had plagued him in his previous start against the Orioles, throwing a wild pitch on strike three to the Yankees’ leadoff batter, Derek Jeter.

He then walked Curtis Granderson, later issued yet another walk to Mark Teixeira, and ultimately needed 25 pitches—25 pitches!—before escaping the inning with the game tied 1-1. 

Verlander and the Tigers were lucky that the heavens opened, forcing the umps to suspend the game. If that soggy first inning were any indication, Verlander was definitely not back to his old self, and the Yankees may have been able to inflict some real damage had the game continued.

The deluge may have saved Verlander and the Tigers from an ugly Game 1 loss, but might only delay the inevitable. Doug Fister now effectively inherits the ace role for the 5-game ALDS, and while he’s been a revelation since joining Detroit, the tall righty from Fresno State has never felt such a glaring spotlight as he is about to experience.

If last night’s brief but disquieting inning by Verlander is any indication, the Tigers better hope Fister is up to the task.