The Pittsburgh Pirates may already be out of the playoff picture, but they’re about to become a footnote in one of baseball’s biggest goodbye stories.
With the final weekend of the season set to take them to Detroit, the Pirates will be on the other side of the matchup when Justin Verlander makes the last start of his legendary career on Saturday in the second game of the series. It’s the kind of assignment that doesn’t carry much on the standings page, but it carries plenty in baseball history.
Verlander’s farewell comes at the place where it all started. The future Hall of Famer is ending his career in Detroit, and after confirming earlier this summer that he would retire following the 2026 campaign, he’ll close the book with a final outing that feels tailor-made for reflection rather than urgency. The Tigers have been out of the race for some time, and Pittsburgh has little left to chase beyond one more win to secure its first winning season since 2018.
The numbers behind Verlander’s career explain why this weekend will draw attention well beyond Detroit. He’s collected three Cy Young awards, two World Series rings, two ERA titles and a MVP trophy. Even with his latest season interrupted by hip inflammation and a hamstring strain, the résumé still stands as one of the defining pitching careers of this generation.
For the Pirates, the timing adds a layer of odd symmetry. Verlander has faced Pittsburgh ten times in his career, all in the regular season, and twice last year with the Giants.
In those outings, he posted a 3.08 ERA and finished two complete games, including one shutout. There’s also a direct connection to Pirates manager Don Kelly, who spent six seasons as Verlander’s teammate in Detroit and was part of the 2012 Tigers team that reached the World Series.
Pittsburgh hasn’t announced its probable pitchers for the series, but the expectation is that the Pirates will again use a bullpen game against Verlander. That would leave Paul Skenes out of the moment, even though Kelly has often compared the young right-hander to the Tigers great. Skenes is lined up to start the final home game of the season against the Cardinals instead.
Verlander’s final start is unlikely to be a long one. He hasn’t pitched in six months and did not go on a rehab assignment. Still, the bigger picture is the point here: a celebrated career getting its final turn on the mound, with the Pirates standing on the opposite side when it happens.
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