SAN FRANCISCO — Justin Verlander has made it clear that he intends to keep pitching in 2026. The question now is whether he’ll be back for a second year with the Giants.
Verlander capped his 20th Major League season by spinning six innings of two-run ball to earn the win in the Giants’ 4-3 win over the Rockies on Saturday afternoon at Oracle Park.
The 42-year-old right-hander surrendered a pair of solo home runs to Hunter Goodman and Brenton Doyle in the first two innings, but he put up zeros over his final four frames to end the year with a 3.85 ERA over 152 innings in 29 starts this year.
Casey Schmitt launched a go-ahead, three-run shot off Colorado left-hander Kyle Freeland in the bottom of the second, though things got a bit dicey for the Giants in the top of the ninth.
Closer Ryan Walker, who had already blown saves in three of Verlander’s starts this year, gave up a leadoff homer to Jordan Beck and was pulled after giving up a double to Doyle and walking Kyle Karros to put runners on the corners with one out.
Spencer Bivens came in and struck out Warming Bernabel, though he then hit Ryan Ritter on the left elbow to load the bases. Still, third baseman Matt Chapman ranged into foul territory and made a nice catch up against the netting to snag Ezequiel Tovar’s popup down the left-field line and ensure Verlander would walk away with his 266th career win, which tied him with Bob Feller and Eppa Rixey for 34th in AL/NL history, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
“I just tried to stay calm,” Verlander said of watching the final inning play out. “I found a different place to stay in the locker room than I had all season. I had a different brand of beer. I was just doing whatever I could. I was just happy to see it get pulled out. Biv did a great job when he came in and got a big punchout and got the last out.”
Verlander had hoped to pile up more wins after signing a one-year, $15 million deal over the offseason, but he went only 4-11 after the Giants struggled to provide him with consistent run support this year. It was a significant letdown for Verlander, who has made no secret of his desire to reach 300 wins, but he should have more opportunities to keep chasing that goal next year.
“I think if I can go out and make 29, 30-plus starts and give our team a chance to win for a few more years, then it’s possible,” Verlander said. “I’m not going to say it’s not. It’s definitely harder, though. If you make 29 starts, you’d like to win 10, 15 games. It wasn’t in the cards this year. But maybe this year wasn’t meant to be for wins. Maybe this year was meant to be kind of for health and kind of re-finding myself and getting used to taking the ball every five, six days and just kind of going out there and being able to log some innings. Maybe that will carry me where I need to go.”
Verlander went 0-7 with a 4.70 ERA in the first half and missed two weeks with a right pectoral strain, but he got back on track after the All-Star break, going 4-4 with a 2.99 ERA over his final 14 starts of the year. He delivered his best work down the stretch, logging a 1.96 ERA over his last seven outings.
“Obviously, kind of a topsy-turvy season,” Verlander said. “The first half was quite difficult. I’m happy I was able to find some mechanical fixes to kind of get back in the right direction and pitch well in the second half.”
The Giants will be in the hunt for more rotation depth behind All-Stars Logan Webb and Robbie Ray this offseason, so manager Bob Melvin said he’s hoping Verlander will be open to re-signing with the club as a free agent.
“I’d love to see him back,” Melvin said. “He’s going to get a nice offer. It wouldn’t even shock me if he got a two-year deal based on the way he’s pitched.”
Verlander said he isn’t sure he’d be interested in multi-year offers at this point, as he’d prefer to take it year by year, but he didn’t rule out a possible return to the Giants.
“I’ll consider anything,” Verlander said. “I really enjoyed the guys here. Obviously, it’s a tough season personally. But as far as an organization and the guys I got to play with here, it was so class. Off the field and in the locker room, it was one of the more fun seasons I’ve had.”
