"You look at Paul Skenes?" - Fan war ignites after Justin Verlander’s brother rues pitcher’s "worst" luck while highlighting "nasty" 97 mph heat

Veteran San Francisco Giants ace Justin Verlander is in the later part of his MLB career, and the three-time Cy Young winner has found it hard this season after an injury-plagued 2024.

Verlander, a future Hall of Famer, is winless after 15 starts this season and took his seventh loss after Wednesday's series finale against the Philadelphia Phillies.

Despite his shortcomings, Justin Verlander's brother, Ben, highlighted positives from his outings, pointing out his 96.9 mph fastball against the Phillies on Wednesday. He wrote on X:

"I’m going to vent. Yes it’s my brother. Yes I’m biased. But Justin’s stats 100% do not tell the story of this season. He’s had many very good starts with truly some of the worst luck I’ve ever seen. It makes no sense to me. Really frustrating to watch. He’s still throwing 97mph with nasty offspeed. That’s the end of me venting. Thank you."

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Fans reacted to the MLB analyst's post defending his brother.

"Hey he’s going to play in October at least. You look at Paul Skenes?" A fan wrote highlighting Skenes' bad luck with a slumping Pittsburgh Pirates.

"Your brother is one of the best pitchers of all time (in our era), 1st ballot HOF, all votes, you owe no apologies to anyone," wrote another fan.

Other fans questioned Justin Verlander's decision to join the Giants in the offseason.

"He should have signed with Detroit, baseball karma," wrote a fan."

He should have stayed with the Astros if he cared about hitting a specific target for wins as his career is winding down. I’m not being rude, I love JV," wrote another fan.

"Shoulda stayed with the Stros."

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Justin Verlander upbeat despite Phillies thrashing Giants to avoid series sweep

Despite the Phillies dismantling the Giants 13-0 in the series finale, Justin Verlander took positives from his outing.

“That was the first time I kind of walked out of an outing and was like, ‘I feel like I can get some people out consistently with that stuff,’” Verlander said.

Verlander pitched six innings, conceding two earned runs and seven hits with seven strikeouts. The Giants bullpen collapsed after his exit, conceding nine runs in the last two innings of the game.

About the author

Chaitanya Prakash is an editor who covers US Sports at Sportskeeda. His first brush with sportswriting was in 2012 when the greatest football manager of all time, Sir Alex Ferguson, bid farewell to the beautiful game.

Although having started out professionally as a cricket writer in 2022, Chaitanya's curiosity and indiscriminate interest in all sports in general eventually introduced him to America's favorite pastime.

While Chaitanya's favorite player from the current crop is the dynamic Venezuelan Ronald Acuna Jr., his all-time favorite, however, is Pedro Martinez, for his self-belief and consistency. He also rates Jose Bautista's iconic bat flip in 2015 as his favorite moment in baseball history.

Chaitanya specializes in reporting on technical aspects of the game or analyzing patterns behind specific plays. He also likes pondering over players' self-assessments following the conclusion of a game as it helps him get an idea of how they think about the sport in general.

When not cheering for his favorites across sports, Chaitanya likes being transported to the past through a good war documentary or a historical documentary in general.

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Edited by Chaitanya Prakash