{"id":117886,"date":"2026-04-04T13:33:46","date_gmt":"2026-04-04T17:33:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/?p=117886"},"modified":"2026-04-04T13:33:46","modified_gmt":"2026-04-04T17:33:46","slug":"tigers-place-franchise-icon-on-injured-list","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2026\/04\/04\/tigers-place-franchise-icon-on-injured-list\/","title":{"rendered":"Tigers Place Franchise Icon on Injured List"},"content":{"rendered":"

Justin Verlander<\/a>‘s Comerica Park return will have to wait. The Detroit Tigers<\/a> have placed the franchise icon on the 15-day injured list due to hip inflammation.<\/p>\n

Verlander to IL<\/h2>\n
\n

Justin Verlander goes on injured list for Detroit Tigers https:\/\/t.co\/ZVhoKJWdY4<\/a> via @detroitnews<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Chris McCosky (@cmccosky) April 4, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Keider Montero<\/a> is expected to be called up from the minor leagues and take Verlander’s spot in the rotation. Verlander was scheduled to pitch on Easter Sunday night against the St. Louis Cardinals<\/a>. It would have been Verlander’s first time starting for the Tigers at Comerica since the 2017 season. He was looking for a bounce-back performance after a rough first start on the road in San Diego.<\/p>\n

<\/smartframe-embed><\/p>\n

Manager Update Following Saturday’s Game<\/h3>\n

Manager A.J. Hinch<\/a> is expected to give an additional update<\/a> following the Tigers’ game Saturday. It is unknown what exactly the update will be, but we can assume it will include plans for the rotation moving forward.<\/p>\n

Rotation Depth Tested Early<\/h3>\n

Thankfully, the Tigers have depth in their rotation<\/a>. Tarik Skubal<\/a> is the face of the rotation of course. Framber Valdez<\/a> was brought in to the second man in the rotation, and Jack Flaherty<\/a> returns for another season as a Tiger.<\/p>\n

While Verlander will be missed, the Tigers have the pieces to move forward.<\/p>\n

Missed Anniversary<\/h3>\n

Verlander’s start Sunday night would have been a great moment for the Tigers, but it also would have been an appropriate callback to the Cardinals as well. The Cardinals are celebrating 20 seasons at Busch Stadium III in 2026. Their christened the stadium with a World Series championship in 2006, beating the Tigers in five games. The ace of the Tigers that season? Rookie of the Year winner, Justin Verlander.<\/p>\n

New Probable Pitching Matchup<\/h3>\n

With Verlander no longer starting tomorrow night, the new probable pitching matchup is Keider Montero for the Tigers and Kyle Leahy<\/a> for the Cardinals.<\/p>\n

Main Photo: Rob Carr- Imagn Images<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Justin Verlander‘s Comerica Park return will have to wait. The Detroit Tigers have placed the franchise icon on the 15-day injured list due to hip inflammation. Verlander to IL Justin Verlander goes on injured list for Detroit Tigers https:\/\/t.co\/ZVhoKJWdY4 via @detroitnews \u2014 Chris McCosky (@cmccosky) April 4, 2026 Keider Montero is expected to be called […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3464,"featured_media":52801,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[35,11,1071],"tags":[3298,247],"class_list":["post-117886","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-tigers","category-mlb","tag-aj-hinch","tag-justin-verlander"],"modified_by":"Andrew Willis","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117886","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3464"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=117886"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117886\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":117890,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117886\/revisions\/117890"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/52801"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=117886"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=117886"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=117886"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}