Reactionary Astros Reporter Conveniently Wants Us to Forget Justin Verlander Was a Tigers Legend

Justin Verlander's third career no-hitter, and his second against the Toronto Blue Jays, provided a vintage moment for one of the best pitchers of his generation on a loaded Sunday baseball slate.

In the moment, however, the Houston Astros MLB.com writer might've been just a bit too reactionary. Brian McTaggart believes that, after just over two seasons spent in Houston, that Verlander will enter the Hall of Fame in an Astros cap.

That's not how it works, bud.

Look, Verlander has reinvented himself in Houston at a time many MLB analysts assumed he was on the tail end of his career. Instead, Verlander is in the running for another Cy Young award after finishing second last season, and finally received a coveted World Series trophy to boot in 2017. It's been wonderful, and Tigers fans are surely grateful to see their former top prospect turned ace for over a decade receive the team accolade he very much deserved. In fact, they'd love to witness JV get a second. But don't take this from them, Houston.

Verlander was a Detroit Tiger for 13 seasons, and was on three pennant-winning teams, only to falter in the Fall Classic. He finished in the top-five in Cy Young voting on five separate occasions, including landing the award in 2011 along with the AL MVP. Not to mention, two of those no-hitters occurred under Detroit's watch.

It's easy to fall victim to the moment. Despite two-plus seasons of incredible pitching from Verlander in Houston, the best the Astros can hope for is a split/blank cap scenario, and even that would be considered an upset.

JV is still adored in the Motor City and his relationship with the Tigers brass is solid, especially because they shipped him to a contender under his consultation. Simply removing the Tigers from his history is an insult to baseball lore.