Justin Verlander Fantasy News and Statistics

Justin Verlander was perhaps the single-biggest reason the Houston Astros won the 2017 World Series. After a comeback season in 2016 in which he finished second in MVP voting, Verlander struggled early in 2017. But he eventually started throwing well with Detroit and turned it on after a trade to the Astros at the end of August. He’ll be 35 years old during the 2018 season, and age will catch up to him eventually. Can he be counted on as one of the game’s best pitchers and a huge provider of Dober Fantasy Points? Or was the early season decline he showed last year a sign of things to come? Either way, he’s a true competitor. Even a diminished Verlander is better than most starters.

2017: After losing out in Cy Young Award voting in 2016, Verlander took a bit of an early season nosedive in 2017. But unlike the actual Cy Young winner — Rick Porcello — Verlander bounced back in a big way to produce a very strong 2017 campaign, once again finishing in the top-5 in the award’s voting. Split between a flailing Detroit Tigers team and a champion Astros squad, Verlander ended up 15-8 with a 3.36 ERA and 1.175 WHIP in 206 innings. All great numbers, but the performance for Houston in September and into October stole the show. He pitched in five games during the regular season for the Astros, winning all five while allowing four runs and 17 hits over 34 innings of work. From there, he won two games apiece in the ALDS and ALCS, going 9-0 in his first nine starts as an Astro before finally losing a game in the World Series. Even so, he ended the postseason 4-1 in six games with just nine earned runs in 36.2 innings.