Friday’s start against the Phillies marks the third different decade in which Justin Verlander has started Game 1 of the World Series. He started the 2006 World Series opener for the Tigers, then had the honor again in 2012.
It’s really a remarkable feat. It’s safe to say, though, that he’d probably prefer not to repeat either of those outings, a combined 11 earned runs in nine innings pitched. In fact, he hasn’t fared very well in any of his seven World Series starts, going 0-6 with a 5.68 ERA.
“I would like to get a win, yeah,” Verlander said Thursday. “I mean, I’m not going to — like I said, that’s not my goal, so I don’t want to say that that feels like it’s lacking because innately that would make it a particular goal of mine. My goal is to go out and give us the best chance to win. If that ends up resulting in a win, great. I’ve been a part of games that I pitched and started that we won in the World Series, which is more important than getting the win.”
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The Game 1 start in 2012 was especially painful.
His Tigers were the clear favorites that year against the Giants, thanks in large part to the Detroit rotation that included Verlander, Max Scherzer, Doug Fister and Anibal Sanchez. Verlander had authored an incredible 2011 season, winning both the AL Cy Young award and the AL MVP — the first starting pitcher to win the MVP in either league since Roger Clemens in 1986 — and followed up with a stellar 2012 season that would land him second in the Cy Young voting, though the awards weren’t revealed until after the postseason.
He was baseball’s best starting pitcher, and he was mowing down opponents in the postseason. He’d made three starts to that October, allowing just 10 hits and five walks in 24 2/3 innings, with 25 strikeouts. Detroit had won all three of those games. So, yeah, there was nobody else the Tigers would have wanted on the mound in the most important game of the year, especially on the road, where Detroit had just a .469 winning percentage, as compared with .617 at home.
Who knew the guy nicknamed Kung Fu Panda was secretly his kryptonite?
Verlander gave up two home runs to Giants third baseman Pablo Sandoval in the first three innings; the first, a solo shot on an 0-2 pitch, the second of the opposite field two-run variety. Only one player all season had homered twice off Verlander in the same game — Desmond Jennings of the Rays — and only two had done it in 2011.
Sandoval would hit yet another homer after Verlander departed, having allowed five runs in just four innings. Sandoval became just the fourth player ever to hit three home runs in a World Series game — Babe Ruth, in 1926 and 1928, Reggie Jackson in 1977 and Albert Pujols in 2011. Those three round-trippers helped lead the Giants to a stunning Game 1 victory. San Francisco never let go of that momentum, rolling to a sweep of Detroit.
“I just didn’t execute tonight, especially to Pablo,” Verlander said after the game.
Sandoval was a fan favorite in San Francisco, thanks to his big smile and atypical ballplayer physique — think John Kruk, not Gabe Kapler — and he could absolutely carry his team for stretches when he caught fire at the plate. Power was there, but wasn’t a huge part of his everyday skill set. In 442 plate appearances in 2012, Sandoval hit just 12 home runs, sandwiched between 20-plus homer seasons in 2011 and 2013.
But to get the true story of that stunning Game 1 turn of events, you have to go back a few months, to the 2012 All-Star Game.
In the current setup, the team with the best regular-season record gets home-field advantage in the World Series. That’s why Verlander’s Astros (106 regular-season wins) get Games 1-2 and 6-7 (if necessary) at home instead of the Phillies (87 wins). But, as you know, it wasn’t always the case.
For most of baseball history, home-field advantage alternated year to year. Then, after the infamous tie at the 2002 All-Star Game, an embarrassed Bud Selig — who will ever forget him throwing up his arms as they tried to figure out the next step? — used his powers as commissioner to “make the All-Star Game count” and gave home-field advantage in the World Series to the league that won the All-Star Game.
It was a horrible idea from the very moment it was conceived — the All-Star Game has always been an exhibition to showcase the sport’s best players, and it’s not managed solely to win — but it was the rule for 14 years. Included in that stretch: the 2012 All-Star Game.
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So what happened during the 2012 All-Star Game that made the World Series start in San Francisco? Glad you asked.
Verlander started the game for the AL. Wanting to give the fans a little extra entertainment, and knowing he’d pitch two innings at the very most, Verlander put a little extra giddy-up on his fastball, with the radar gun showing triple digits five times in the first inning. Now, that might not seem like much in 2022, but it was truly eye-popping in 2012.
It also was not how Verlander was used to pitching, and he had trouble locating that big fastball. He admitted after the game that he had trouble keeping the ball down in the zone.
“But I had fun,” he told reporters. “That’s why I don’t try to throw 100 in the first inning. But this is for the fans. It doesn’t usually work out too well for me.”
Helping that not work out too well? Yep, three Giants batters.
With one out, Melky Cabrera — who would get suspended for PED use later that season — singled he scored on a double by Milwaukee outfielder Ryan Braun. A couple batters later, Buster Posey walked to load the bases.
Then, Sandoval stepped to the plate, and this happened.
Sandoval narrowly missed a grand slam, settling for a triple. He’d quickly score on a single by Dan Uggla. Verlander gave up only two triples the entire 2012 season. Sandoval hit only two. So, yeah, that was an unlikely combo.
“I don’t get many triples,” Sandoval told reporters after the game. “We had some fun with that in the dugout.”
Thanks to that five-run inning off Verlander — he only allowed five earned runs in a game three times all season in 2012, and not once all in the same inning — the NL went on to win 8-0. Which meant the NL had home-field advantage. Which meant that the three Giants players who accounted for all five runs basically gave themselves Game 1 in San Francisco.
Did we mention the Tigers won 50 games at home and only 38 on the road?
But let’s get back to Sandoval. Think about this: He had three at-bats against Peak Justin Verlander that year, and he went 3-for-3 with a triple and two home runs. If he made an out even once, it’s reasonable to think the Tigers could have won the World Series.
The first-inning homer might have been just one run, but to get to the best starting pitcher in baseball that quickly in the opening game of the World Series? Yeah, that mattered.
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The third-inning home run was even more important, but a healthy amount of credit needs to be directed to his Giants teammates that inning. The Nos. 8 and 9 batters — Brandon Crawford and Barry Zito — saw five pitches each, and then the Nos. 1 and 2 batters — Angel Pagan and Marco Scurato — each saw eight pitches.
So by the time Verlander fell behind Sandoval 2-0, he was beyond his comfort point. The pitch Sandoval homered on was the right-hander’s 29th of the inning.
Again, for context of Verlander’s dominance: Sandoval had two homers and a triple in three ABs in 2012 vs. the Detroit ace. From 2010 to 2012, Verlander threw 713 2/3 innings and faced 2,850 batters, and not a single one of them had both a triple and a homer against him.
Sandoval turned the trick in three at-bats.
How about this: In Verlander 17-season career, only three players ever have hit a triple and a homer off him in the same regular season!
2006: Joe Inglett, 1 homer, 1 triple
2017: Lonnie Chisenhall, 2 homers, 1 triple
2018: Denard Span: 1 homer, 1 triple
Sandoval’s triple helped give San Francisco home-field advantage in the World Series. The two homers helped the Giants take an unexpected Game 1 victory en route to a rather shocking series sweep.
Verlander would prefer to avoid that same kind of start in 2022.
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