Verlander: "I pulled the rug out, twice" on Tigers fans. He intends to make it up to them.

Justin Verlander isn't saying farewell, not yet.

While he announced Wednesday that this will be the final season of his Hall of Fame career, he did not say his career is over. Retirement will come in a few months. Despite nagging injuries that have rained on this reunion, a battered body that has forced him to surrender in his pursuit of 300 wins and 4,000 strikeouts, Verlander still burns to pitch again for the Tigers, to climb onto the Comerica Park mound wearing the Old English D.

"I’ve always said I want to play until the wheels are falling off. I joked not long ago that maybe this is falling off — it seems it is," Verlander said, glancing with a smile at his left hip. "But it's not done yet, and neither am I."

Verlander returned to the Tigers for his 21st big-league season "with the intention of being part of a great run, a playoff-caliber team, and hopefully doing something special," he said. "That really hasn’t changed. It’s just become harder." The 41-50 Tigers still have a long way to go to make a real push in the playoff race, but they're headed in the right direction.

They lead the majors in ERA since the start of June, over which time they have the best record in the AL. Verlander has seen this formula before, on several teams in both Detroit and Houston.

"The best teams I’ve been a part of, and I’ve been part of a lot of them, that’s really the foundation. You have a rotation of guys that are giving you a chance to win night in and night out, and your guys behind you feel like they’re in every single game and you start riding the momentum, and that’s what I’m seeing happening now," he said.

Verlander has been reduced to an observer since landing on the injured list with hip inflammation after his first and only start of the season. The Tigers announced the news on the day he was scheduled to make his Detroit homecoming, on Sunday Night Baseball, no less. It was a precautionary move, everyone believed, the type that would prevent him from missing extended time.

Alas.

A couple months later, Verlander was scheduled to come off the IL for another return to Comerica Park, only to be scratched again a couple days in advance with a hamstring strain. He's still working his way back.

Fans gobbled up tickets to both games, dying to see Verlander pitch in Detroit for the first time since 2017. In the end, they were robbed of that opportunity. It still frustrates Verlander that he let them down, and left them hanging. He intends to make it right, by getting back on the horse before he's done.

"It really is a big part of it. I feel like I’ve pulled the rug out, twice, and it really gutted me," Verlander said. "I hated doing that. It’s something that I’d envisioned from the moment I signed back here, is being back on the mound in a Tigers uniform. I want it just as bad as anyone else. It’s definitely part of the motivation to continue to put in the necessary work. Maybe there’s a world where that’s more motivating, to know that it’s all or nothing."

Yes, despite all the setbacks and false starts, Verlander strongly believes that he'll pitch again this season: "For sure, I really do," he said. "Ironically, I’m starting to feel the best I have all year right now." He's scheduled to throw a bullpen Thursday, "and start the process of getting going again."

The aim is to help the Tigers down the stretch, ideally in a race for a playoff spot.

"That is something I’m absolutely looking forward to," Verlander said. "This isn’t me just saying goodbye and sitting on the bench the rest of the year. That’s not who I am, that’s not how I got to where I am. Watching these guys go out there and have fun, and watching our staff just absolutely dominate, I want to be part of that," he said.