Justin Verlander is soaking in his last All-Star Game, and he’s not holding back on his feelings about New York. The future Hall of Famer will retire at the end of the 2026 season with the Detroit Tigers. Before that, he had a brief but memorable run with the Mets in 2023.
That stint was short. Less than one full season. The Mets were bad, and Verlander got traded back to Houston at the deadline. But when you ask him about New York, he doesn’t talk about the losing. He talks about the city.
“I really fell in love with the city. It was short, obviously. Didn’t go the way we wanted,” Verlander told reporters at the All-Star Game. “There’s a lot of things that were sad about it. But I think the relationship with Steve Cohen and his wife Alex, how great they were to me and my family. Getting to play that short time in New York was incredible. I still have my apartment in the city.”
That’s not just a standard PR answer. The guy kept an apartment. He’s a 43-year-old pitcher who has won two World Series with the Astros, pitched for the Tigers, the Giants, and the Mets. He could buy a building if he wanted. But he kept an apartment in Manhattan because he actually liked being there.
Verlander signed a two-year, $86.7 million deal with the Mets in free agency. It was a monster contract, the kind that makes you believe the franchise is swinging big. But the team cratered. Injuries, underperformance, the whole thing fell apart by July. Mets GM Billy Eppler shipped Verlander back to Houston for prospects, and the experiment ended before it really got going.
This season hasn’t been kind to Verlander either. He signed a one-year deal with Detroit in 2026 after a year with the Giants. But he’s pitched just one game. Injuries have wrecked his final season. Still, nobody is doubting his legacy. He’s a lock for Cooperstown the second he’s eligible.
Verlander is playing in the All-Star Game as a commissioner’s pick for the American League. It’s a ceremonial nod, a chance to send him off with one more moment under the lights. And instead of talking about his stats or his future, he talked about how Steve Cohen and his wife made him feel like family in a city that doesn’t always make it easy.
That’s something. For a mercenary who bounced between contenders, a failed half-season in Queens left a mark. Maybe that says more about New York than it does about baseball.
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