Houston Astros starting pitcher Justin Verlander will miss the rest of the season due to an elbow injury according to reports.
The Houston Astros were dealt a big blow. According to a report from Chandler Rome of The Houston Chronicle, Justin Verlander will miss the rest of the season.
Justin Verlander pitched Opening Day for Houston, allowing, two runs in six innings with seven strikeouts. Replacing one of the best pitchers in baseball will not be easy for Houston.
Houston already lost Gerrit Cole in free agency to the New York Yankees, now they have to attempt to navigate this season without their best pitcher. Currently Houston has Zack Greinke and Lance McCullers Jr. to rely on, the others are not seasoned veterans. Josh James and Framber Valdez have their best days ahead of them and may not be capable of filling the rather large vacancy created by Verlander’s injury.
Newly hired manager Dusty Baker has already had to deal with a lot of things this season. From the cheating scandal to now losing an integral part of their team, the highly regarded manager has quite the difficult task ahead of him.
The injury to Verlander does open up the American League West for another team to possibly overtake Houston for the division title. Maybe the Oakland Athletics can seize the moment and claim the AL West crown from the Astros.