Justin Verlander broke down addressing Detroit fans with his family beside him.
The 43-year-old pitcher, honored at Comerica Park on Friday ahead of his final career start Saturday against the Pirates, hugged wife Kate Upton, 34, during the emotional on-field ceremony while their children looked on. Verlander, who spent his first 12 MLB seasons with the Tigers from 2005-17 before being traded to the Astros, told the crowd gathered at the ballpark, “I am, and always will be, a Detroit Tiger.”
The three-time Cy Young Award winner’s 7-year-old daughter, Genevieve, had already stolen the show the night before. She threw out the first pitch before Saturday’s game and delivered a strike to her father, who greeted her with a big hug and a smile. Upton watched with their 1-year-old son, Bellamy.
Verlander told reporters before the game that the moment had been carefully planned. “It’s been awesome. We’ve been practicing,” he said. “She’s all pumped up about it. We actually came out here to the field and practiced off the mound one day. I asked her, ‘Where do you want to go? You want to go to the mound? And she’s like, ‘The mound.’ I’m like, that’s my girl.”
The pitcher, who married Upton in 2017 and spent half a season with the Mets in 2023, has seen his return to Detroit cut short by injuries. He has pitched just 3 ⅔ innings in one game this season because of left hip inflammation and a left hamstring strain, and the Tigers will miss the postseason.
Despite the physical setbacks, Verlander rushed back from rehab to ensure he could make one final appearance. He admitted to feeling “anxious” about how Saturday would unfold. “There’s no script,” Verlander said. “I want to go as long as I can. I skipped about a month’s worth of rehab to be able to do this, but I also don’t want to just go out there and throw 20 pitches. I think everybody feels comfortable with 20 pitches, and then after that, we’re kind of in a who-knows zone.”
The 10-time All-Star and two-time World Series champion enters his finale with 266 wins and 3,555 strikeouts, the latter good for eighth all time. He acknowledged falling short of one career goal while finding peace with his legacy. “I think it’s all how you look at it, right? I could be sad for what maybe I didn’t do. I didn’t make 300 wins. That was a goal,” Verlander said. “I’m not going to go home and lay my head on my pillow tomorrow night, no matter how the game goes, and be like, I left something out there. I think that gives me some ease.”
The backyard catch sessions leading up to the finale marked a new chapter in Verlander’s relationship with his daughter. “She’s been really excited. At home, she wants to grab a baseball and go up to play catch with me, which is the first time this has happened. I don’t push on her at all, so to have her want to go play catch in the backyard has been awesome, and she’s glowing about it,” he shared.
Verlander is expected to be on a short pitch count for his final start.