{"id":84814,"date":"2024-09-03T13:41:38","date_gmt":"2024-09-03T17:41:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/?p=84814"},"modified":"2024-09-03T13:41:38","modified_gmt":"2024-09-03T17:41:38","slug":"astros-justin-verlander-struggles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2024\/09\/03\/astros-justin-verlander-struggles\/","title":{"rendered":"How Struggling Ace Could Derail Astros Postseason Hopes"},"content":{"rendered":"

Justin Verlander has struggled since coming off the injured list, but for the Astros to make a deep postseason run, they need their ace at his best. Nineteen seasons pitching in the majors, the three-time Cy Young Award winner knows when he has it and when he does not. <\/span>Justin Verlander<\/span><\/a> has not had it since returning from a two-month injured list stint for an unspecified neck ailment.<\/span><\/p>\n

How Struggling Ace Could Derail Astros Postseason Hopes<\/h2>\n

On Monday, the future Hall of Famer<\/a> did something he had not done in 558 previous starts in the majors, regular or postseason. Verlander walked the first three batters he faced. This was Verlander\u2019s third start since being reinstated on August 21st, and at times, it was more of a struggle than his first two. He exited in the fifth inning after a season-high 107 pitches, charged with five runs on eight hits while tying a season-high with four walks. Verlander said after the game that \u201cthings always come back to mechanics\u201d and offered a blunt self-assessment.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cMy mechanics aren\u2019t right right now,\u201d Verlander said. \u201cNot even close. I\u2019m trying to be realistic with myself and know that I\u2019ve been shut down for a while. It\u2019s going to be difficult to try to be where you want to be.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Can Astros Ace Justin Verlander Regain His Form Before October?<\/h3>\n

This has been a stop-and-start season for Verlander. The 41-year-old ace began the season on the injured list, building up after an <\/span>offseason shoulder issue<\/span><\/a>. He had a 2.08 ERA in his first three starts, but a rough game against the Yankees exposed what Verlander called a \u2018lack of deception\u2019 in his pitches. He struggled through two starts in June before going on the injured list with neck pain he said had bothered him for weeks.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Verlander\u2019s first start back from the injured list offered some optimism for an injury-thinned Astros rotation desperately needing a boost. But Verlander has since hit a wall. In three starts following a two-month hiatus, Verlander has allowed 19 hits and walked six batters while posting a 6.75 ERA.<\/span><\/p>\n

The nine-time All-Star is balancing his workload between starts while he works through his mechanical issues. Houston has lost each of Verlander\u2019s last three starts, making each of his remaining outings crucial going into the postseason. His next start could come against the Diamondbacks, owners of baseball\u2019s best offense since the All-Star break. Houston\u2019s final two regular-season series come against the Mariners and Guardians, both of which could hold significant postseason implications. Astros starters had the lowest ERA in the majors last month, which could give Verlander some leeway as he works to regain his form for October.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cPhysically, I feel good,\u201d Verlander said. \u201cIf something is not working right, usually something\u2019s wrong with mechanics. You\u2019ve just got to figure it out. So, I\u2019m working as hard as I can, which is why it\u2019s frustrating.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Main Photo Credits: Katie Stratman-USA TODAY SPORTS<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Justin Verlander has struggled since coming off the injured list, but for the Astros to make a deep postseason run, they need their ace at his best. Nineteen seasons pitching in the majors, the three-time Cy Young Award winner knows when he has it and when he does not. Justin Verlander has not had it […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4975,"featured_media":84823,"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":[14,1071],"tags":[627,247],"class_list":["post-84814","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-astros","category-mlb","tag-al-west","tag-justin-verlander"],"modified_by":"Evan Mazza, Site Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84814","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\/4975"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=84814"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84814\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/84823"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=84814"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=84814"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=84814"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}