While stressing that these plans are “still in pencil,” Tigers manager A.J. Hinch told the Detroit Free Press’ Jeff Seidel and other reporters said the team intends to start Justin Verlander on Saturday when the Tigers host the Pirates.  If all goes to plan, this will be the last game of Verlander’s superb 21-year career, and his first home start in a Tigers uniform since 2017.

After signing a one-year, $13MM free agent winter to return to Motown, Verlander has spent almost the entire season on the injured list, apart from one start (lasting 3 2/3 innings) against the Diamondbacks in Phoenix on March 30.  He has been sidelined first by hip inflammation, and then a hamstring strain that shut down a minor league rehab assignment in June.

Verlander hasn’t seen any rehab games during this latest recovery process, though he threw a one-inning simulated game on Friday.  The final step is an up-and-down bullpen session this week, and if that session and the aftermath go by without any setbacks, Verlander will be activated from the 60-day IL.

“We have to be cognizant of the things he has to do in order to get there, and he’s answered every test.  We’re going to push him a little bit harder on the bullpen midweek.  But I think it’s important to be transparent with what our plans are and where he’s at,” Hinch said, acknowledging how fans may specifically be buying tickets to see Verlander’s sendoff.  The Tigers were already planning to use the final series of the season as a celebration of Verlander’s career, without a guarantee that Verlander will able to pitch.  It is fair to assume that if Verlander does start, it will be an abbreviated outing.

While Verlander’s time with the Tigers is ending, another pitcher’s Detroit tenure is set to officially begin on Monday.  Hinch said right-hander River Ryan will be called up from Triple-A to start Monday’s game with the Nationals, with Keider Montero acting as a piggyback starter.

“The next test for [Ryan] is to come and hopefully get a couple outings over the course of the week, albeit shorter than a normal start,” Hinch said.  “He’s using his pitches.  He’s recovering fine.  He’s throwing his normal bullpens, and of course, we want to get him around our team.  And because we expect him to be a big part of what we’re doing moving forward.”

Ryan hasn’t pitched in the majors since 2024, when he posted a 1.33 ERA over the first four starts and 20 1/3 innings of his big league career before a Tommy John surgery interrupted his rookie year in August.  The recovery process kept Ryan on the shelf for all of 2025, and after starting the year in the minors, Ryan has been limited to 41 Triple-A innings due to a pair of hamstring injuries.

The latter IL stint didn’t keep the Tigers from acquiring Ryan as part of the three-player package in the Tarik Skubal deadline deal, and Ryan made his organizational debut in a two-inning outing for Triple-A Tacoma on September 9.  Another start of 2 2/3 innings followed on September 15.

Ryan is already on the 40-man roster, so Detroit will have to make only an active roster move to accommodate Ryan’s return to the majors.  That move might well be Troy Melton heading to the 15-day injured list, as the right-hander left today’s game in the fourth inning due to forearm tightness.

“I kind of expected it to go away, and it just never did.  It just got achy and tight on me pretty quick, never got any better as the inning progressed. It just stayed tight,” Melton told MLB.com’s Jason Beck and other reporters.  Melton didn’t close the door on the possibility of pitching again in 2026, but he’ll undergo tests to examine the forearm issue, and the Tigers might well decide to just shut the righty down as a precaution.

If this is it for Melton, he’ll finish the 2026 season with a 2.76 ERA over 114 1/3 innings and 20 starts.  He allowed less hard contact in his second MLB season than in his 2025 rookie campaign, but also had another below-average strikeout rate and other shaky secondary metrics that belied his impressive ERA.  Melton also missed the first two months due to elbow inflammation, but he said he doesn’t think that injury is related to today’s forearm issue.