For the Detroit Tigers, 2015 will go down as the year their string of consecutive division titles ended at four. But it might also be remembered as the season in which they got Justin Verlander back.
Yes, it's a small sample following a run of disabled-list stints and subpar performances by the former American League MVP and Cy Young Award winner. Since the All-Star break, however, Verlander has put up numbers reminiscent of his transcendent peak.
In eight post-All-Star break starts, Verlander owns a 2.45 ERA with 53 strikeouts in 55.2 innings. He's lasted seven or more innings in seven of those starts and allowed no earned runs in three of them.
Wednesday was the punctuation mark. More specifically, it was the exclamation point.
For nine stellar frames against the Los Angeles Angels, Verlander looked like the guy who claimed the aforementioned Cy Young and MVP trophies in 2011 and authored two career no-hitters.
He almost got No. 3 against the Halos, carrying a no-no into the ninth before Chris Iannetta ended it with a double that touched the chalk down the left field line.
And so Verlander missed history and settled for dominance, scattering two walks and that lone knock over nine shutout innings with nine strikeouts.
During a season in which general manager Dave Dombrowski resigned after selling off ace David Price and slugger Yoenis Cespedes at the trade deadline—and the Tigers fell below .500 and into third place in the AL Central—fans in the Motor City will take a little vintage Verlander.
Can it last? There's no guarantee. Verlander is 32 and coming off a dispiriting 2014 season in which he posted a 4.54 ERA and led the Junior Circuit in earned runs allowed. And he's suffered a rash of recent ailments, including injuries to his abdomen and triceps.
Watching him deal on Wednesday, though, it was hard to be anything other than a believer.
It wasn't just that he kept the Angels off the board and (mostly) out of the hit column. It was the way he did it, delivering high-90s gas into the late innings and missing bats with wicked breaking balls, as the Tigers showcased on their official Twitter feed:
"I've got to say thank you to the fans," Verlander said after the game, per the Associated Press (h/t ESPN.com) "Starting in the seventh inning you guys got on your feet the entire game, and it's been a while since I felt like that on the mound and that's pretty exciting. I'll always remember you guys for that."
The Tigers' faithful, in turn, will always remember Verlander for the run of excellence that started in 2006, when he won AL Rookie of the Year honors, and continued through 2011 and 2012, when he paced MLB in strikeouts and innings pitched.
Really, that wasn't so long ago. Yes, sometimes pitchers on the wrong side of 30 start their decline and never recover. But that's not the only path available. Verlander could be Verlander again.
How huge would that be for a Detroit team stuck between retooling and a full-fledged rebuild? As they scan the free-agent and trade markets this winter, the Tigers' position would be measurably strengthened by the return of their old rotation anchor.
At the very least, as Pat Caputo of Macomb Daily noted, "The $180 million contract extension [Verlander] signed in 2013 that kicked in this season doesn’t seem quite as hindering to the Tigers' future as it once did. It's beginning to look more like Verlander is part of the Tigers' solution, rather than a financial burden."
The Tigers' October hopes are dead, but at least they can spend the winter dreaming of an ace reborn.
All statistics current as of Aug. 26 and courtesy of MLB.com unless otherwise noted.
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