Going into game one of the ALCS against the Texas Rangers, the Tigers were hoping that they could set the tone and get the early advantage in the series with ace Justin Verlander taking the hill.
That obviously didn’t happen after the soon-to-be AL Cy Young winner was tagged for three runs in four innings as the Texas Rangers went on to beat the Tigers 3-2 in the ALCS opener.
Saturday night, Verlander threw a total of 82 pitches in four innings. During the regular season he averaged 116 pitches per start and has tossed just 227 pitches in the last 10 days. This will eventually reach 14 days once his next start comes around in the ALCS.
With that said could Verlander could move into the starting spot during game 4 in place of Rick Porcello?
After the Tigers disposed of the Yankees, and pretty much throughout the entire postseason, Tigers manager Jim Leyland seemed pretty adamant that Justin Verlander would still work off his regular rest. However if the Tigers are down 2-1 or 3-0 it may be possible that Leyland changes his mindset on Verlander. It’s also going to come down to how Verlander is feeling as well.
The Tigers ace Verlander has logged 264 innings this season and thrown nearly 4200 official game pitches. It’s almost a certainty though that Verlander would offer to pitch in any situation during the postseason.
Ref: ESPN, USA Today (Image)