Verlander's chase to immortality is fading away

What do Justin Verlander, Randy Johnson, Steve Carlton, Goose Gossage, and Warren Spahn have in common?

With the exception of Verlander, who is a future Hall of Famer, all the other names are enshrined in Cooperstown.

They also have the dubious distinction of ending their illustrious careers with subpar performances while donning the orange and black. Although Carlton achieved his 4000th strikeout and Johnson won his 300th game with the Giants.

Verlander has made it clear he wants to reach the pinnacle of pitching excellence: the 300-win club. Unfortunately, two things conspire against modern day hurlers to achieve this historic milestone: games started, and innings pitched. Nowadays, it is rare to exceed 30 starts and achieve 200 innings pitched in a season.

It’s been over 40 years since the last time a pitcher had 300 innings in a season and 40 game starts and those ingredients were necessary, along with health and longevity to climb the Mount Everett of aces.

In the 1980s, the feat was accomplished five times: Gaylord Perry, Carlton, Phil Niekro, Tom Seaver, and Don Sutton. Four of those were complete game efforts and the lone exception was Carlton who tossed eight frames, allowing only seven hits, two runs, a walk, and notching 12 strikeouts.

In 2025, Verlander is 2-10 with a 4.47 ERA. Some of those outings, he only has himself to blame. But at least four times, Verlander was in line for the win, only to have the Giants bullpen blow the lead in those potential wins into losses or no-decisions. He is now 42-years old and needs 36 wins to reach 300. Due to the lack of starts and innings needing to qualify in addition to hardly any run support, he is at long odds to become the 25th member.

In fact, Verlander had received only 26 runs of support in his first 15 starts.

Verlander already has a milestone that has cemented his place in the hall of plaques and that Is 3,000 strikeouts. Curt Schilling is the lone member not in the Baseball Hall. Verlander is ninth on the list and will soon surpass Perry and Sutton.

When Verlander surpassed the 3,500-strikeout plateau, he fanned Washington Nationals’ first baseman Nathaniel Lowe to end the first inning prompting cheers as he walked off the mound. Unfortunately, he promptly allowed four runs in the second inning en route to an 8-0 blowout.

Following his first win in a Giants uniform against the Atlanta Braves on July 23, Verlander was finally able to smile a little, but his postgame comments were subdued.

“A couple of guys got me a bottle of wine as a congrats which feels great, so I’ll probably have a little bit of that,” Verlander said. “Uh…I’m just happy to be able to contribute finally. Sometimes when things are going well, you take wins for granted and you just go out there and pitch every five days. You’re winning most of them and you’re in the high-five line afterwards. It’s been a tough stretch for me physically and on the mound a bit so hopefully this can get the ball rolling in the right direction.”

The opposite has been the case as Verlander has since gone 1-2 with three no-decisions in his last six starts despite striking out 42 batters in the process. The one victory was his first one at Oracle Park in the Giants 5-2 win over the Chicago Cubs. His numbers have been consistent as he has a decent strikeout to walk ratio, but he has given up more hits than innings pitched and surrendered 12 home runs in 116 2/3 innings.

But what is still most impressive is that Verlander has been relatively healthy aside from one stint on the injured list with a strained right pectoral muscle that sidelined him for a month. He is one of only three active pitchers that has achieved over 200 wins and the only one with more than 250 victories. Next on the list is Max Scherzer (221) and Clayton Kershaw (220).

While it’s likely Verlander has a one and done campaign with the Giants, true baseball fans still appreciate his overall consistency. Hopefully, he somehow ends up with a few more wins before the season's conclusion on September 28th at Oracle Park.