Justin Verlander and the passage of time

The game is the game, and it keeps on moving. An extremely disappointing 2026 season for the Tigers is now over, and our attention now turns entirely to assessing where things went wrong, and how the club can turn things around in 2027 as we face a very difficult and uncertain offseason.

On Sunday afternoon, something far more important to the Tigers franchise and its future was in play as River Ryan took the mound as he begins the work of getting back into form after a few injury plagued seasons. Fans can't control anything, but even we know that you have to be about the process over the results, and you can only really look backwards for a little while. The phrase, "we'll get them next year," is a rueful joke as much as anything else when times are hard, but it does embody something fundamental about being a sports fan, and about life in general. In so many ways, the lessons sports teaches are intertwined with all the lessons life tries to teach to everyone.

There's no reason to weep too much over the retirement of an extraordinarily wealthy athlete with an incredible career behind him, and a lovely family to focus his full attention on. Objectively we all know this. We're sad to see Verlander ride off into the sunset as one of the all-time great Detroit Tigers, but in some ways these things really aren't about the individual athlete. They have their own distinct perspective on their lives and careers. This is more about us as fans of the game.