DETROIT — After being drafted by the Tigers, pitching in two World Series for Detroit, and winning three American League Cy Young Awards, right-handed pitcher Justin Verlander is returning to the Tigers on a one-year contract for the 2026 season, the team announced on Tuesday afternoon.
The balllclub announced on Tuesday it agreed to a $13 million deal with Verlander. He will turn 43 next week. Verlander will join a rotation with reigning two-time Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal and recently-signed Framber Valdez.
Verlander spent the first 12-plus years of his major league career (2005-17) with the Tigers after being selected with the second-overall pick in the 2004 draft, helping lead the club to two World Series appearances (2006 and 2012) and four straight playoff appearances (2011-14). In Detroit, he was named an All-Star six times, the first nod coming in 2007 and then again for five seasons in a row (2009-13).
After being traded to the Houston Astros in August 2017, Verlander closed that regular season by going 5-0 with a 1.06 ERA in five starts to help lead the Astros to their first ever World Championship that season. That postseason, he was named 2017 ALCS MVP.
Since being traded from the Tigers, Verlander has pitched for the Astros (2017-22, 2023-24), the New York Mets (2023), and the San Francisco Giants (2025).
Verlander returns to Detroit as Major League Baseball’s active leader with 266 wins, 3,567.2 innings pitched, 555 start,s and 3,553 strikeouts, the eighth-most punchouts in major league history.
Verlander joins Don Newcombe as the only two players in major league history to win Rookie of the Year, MVP, and Cy Young honors throughout their careers. He is one of only three pitchers to ever win at least three Cy Young awards, and he rejoins the Tigers ranked second in franchise history with 2,373 strikeouts (behind the late Mickey Lolich), second with a 56.6 WAR as a pitcher (behind the late Hal Newhouser), seventh with 183 wins and eighth with 2,511.0 innings pitched.