The best in the business

A lot of people want to be the best at what they do. It doesn’t matter if you’re a teacher, a cop, competitive eater or athlete, we all strive to be the best we can be. When it comes to pitchers in Major League Baseball, it’s hard to argue that Justin Verlander isn’t the best in the business.

The one thing that stands out about Verlander, is that he’s been consistently dominant. Coming off a year when Verlander was voted the most valuable player and best pitcher in the American League, he’s picked up right where he left off.

After pitching eight scoreless innings against the Baltimore Orioles today, Verlander not only recorded his 10th win of the year, but also lowered his ERA to 2.43. If critics were expecting some sort of statistical meltdown after last year, it certainly hasn’t happened yet. The only noticeable difference between this year and last year, is the fact that it’s highly unlikely that Verlander won’t be able to match the 24 wins he got last year, but that’s not entirely his fault.

Last year, the Tigers bullpen did a remarkable job of making sure that Verlander got every win that he was entitled to get, with Jose Valverde not blowing a save for the entire year. Not only is that not something you expect to see, but it’s not realistic to expect it to ever happen again.

So if you want to talk about who is currently the best starting pitcher in all of baseball, you’re going to have a hard time convincing me that it’s not Justin Verlander.