Justin Verlander did not have to do this. He is 43 years old. He has three Cy Young Awards, an MVP, two World Series rings, three no-hitters, 266 wins and more than 3,500 strikeouts. He holds the all time record for postseason strikeouts. Cooperstown is not a question, it is a waiting period. He came back to the Detroit Tigers this year on a one year deal, to finish where he started, and then his hip went out on him in April. Sixty day injured list. Season basically over. He turned 43 while he was on it. Most guys in that spot shake hands and go home. Verlander skipped about a month of the rehab everybody else takes. No minor league rehab assignment. Just bullpen sessions and a single one inning simulated game in Chicago. He cut the recovery short and pushed his body back onto a mound for one reason. He wanted one more start in Detroit, in front of the people who watched him grow up. That start is tomorrow, against the Pittsburgh Pirates. It will be the 557th of his career and the last one. Today the Tigers honored him before the game. His family sat behind home plate. His old pitching coach Jeff Jones came out. So did Brandon Inge, who played behind him for years. Then they announced the ceremonial first pitch, and his daughter Genevieve walked out toward the mound. Justin Verlander crouched down and caught it. A man who has spent 20 years being the one who throws put a glove on, got down in a crouch, and let his kid throw a strike to her dad in front of a full ballpark. She threw it right down the middle. He was drafted second overall by Detroit in 2004. He was Rookie of the Year in 2006. He won the Cy Young and the MVP in the same season in 2011, which almost nobody does. He left for the Houston Astros and won two titles. He pitched for the San Francisco Giants. And at 42 he came back to the only place that ever felt like his. "Your love and support has meant the world to me. I am, and always will be, a Detroit Tiger." He admitted he is nervous about tomorrow. "I'm pretty anxious about tomorrow. It's weird, because it's almost like playoff anxiousness." And he has no idea how it goes, which he also said out loud. "There's no script. I want to go as long as I can." That is a 43 year old man with nothing left to prove telling you he does not know what is going to happen and he is going to find out anyway. He rushed his own rehab for this. Tomorrow afternoon in Detroit, for the last time, Justin Verlander gets the ball.