$86M Star Astros Pitcher Dominates Former Mets Co-ace as AL West Playoff Race Heats Up

Teammate is a relative term in the sports world. Often, teammates become rivals as soon as they join a different team. The same happened with Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer in the Trade Deadline. Verlander and Scherzer were part of the New York Mets, but they were traded to Houston Astros and Texas Rangers respectively, making them teammates-turned-rivals. The two faced-off on Wednesday at Globe Life Field for the first time in their long careers. The face-off that was labeled “fun” by Max turned out worst due his “ailment”.

Changing teams is a regular incident in MLB, but another special thing for Verlander is that it was like homecoming for him. While the Texas Rangers started the season aggressively, the Houston Astros began to in a low-key, but gradually, they heightened themselves as one of the strongest contenders to reach the Playoffs. Until the Wednesday game, the Rangers have been leading the AL-West, but they fall behind now, losing this three-game series. 

Justin Verlander Snatched Victory Against Texas Rangers

Wednesday’s fight was between two incredibly strong teams of the AL West. Both teams tried their best, but victory is always for one, and this time it was for the Houston Astros. In the final game of the series, the Astros, especially Verlander, blew their opponent away, getting a 12-3 win. Not only this, the World Series Champs’ victory was accompanied by a remarkable record.

The Astros have managed to uphold their winning record, outscoring the Rangers 39-10, outhitting them 50-22, and outhomering them 16-6. Notably, they achieved the remarkable feat of 39 runs and 50 hits in a three-game series.

Both the teams played well, but the Astros took the lead with Yordan Alvarez’s two-run homer in the top of the first inning. Later Michael Brantley’s solo homer and Jose Abreu’s grand slam made things smoother for the Astros, while Verlander finally earned the victory for his team. Max Scherzer performed poorly, allowing a season-low seven runs off six hits, which encompassed three home runs.

Explaining why he couldn’t perform to the fullest on the mound, Scherzer told reporters,” “I couldn’t get all the way through the ball, couldn’t explode through the ball. I can go out there and compete. I went out there against Minnesota…..was able to compete and locate. … Today, just didn’t get it done and didn’t locate the ball well enough.”

Justin Verlander And Max Scherzer’s Candid Opinions About Their Face Off

Verlander and Scherzer have been in a friend-foe relationship for a long time. They have played in different teams, while they used to be teammates in Detroit Tigers and The New York Mets. However, the Wednesday game was the first game after they left the Mets, so these two future HoF contenders were also excited about their faceoff.

In an interview Verlander revealed he was prepared for this fight as they both left the Mets and joined the their present teams. He expressed his feelings, saying, “I think looking at each other now through a different lens, it’s two guys who we do go about things differently, but there’s more than one way to be successful.”

While Verlander has foreseen their face off, Scherzer praised Verlander as an opponent saying, “He’s obviously one of the great competitors of our time. And really get a download of how he is as a pitcher, how he’s evolved...This will be fun, first time getting to face Ver,” said Scherzer for playing against his once-teammate.

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What do you think about their first face-off? Share your opinion with us in the comments.

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