Former Detroit Tigers Ace Justin Verlander King of Strikeouts

How many seasons did Justin Verlander pitch for the Detroit Tigers? The answer is parts of 13 seasons.

No doubt that Justin Verlander is the current active "King of Strikeouts." He now officially has 3,086 strikeouts for his career.

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We all loved it when Verlander pitched for the Detroit Tigers. He's one of the biggest reasons why I purchased tickets to baseball games at Comerica park.

When Verlander was on the mound, you just knew it was going to be a baseball battle. He's one of the best pitchers in the major leagues.

For the past several years, Justin Verlander has been pitching for the Houston Astros. The other night at Minute Maid Park, Verlander struck out a season high 12 batters in seven innings, bringing his strikeout total to 3,086.

According to mlive.com:

The impressive outing moved him past his former Tigers teammate Max Scherzer for the active strikeouts lead among pitchers. He also passed his childhood idol John Smoltz, who he admired while growing up in Richmond, Virginia watching the Braves.

I have two favorite MLB pitchers. My ultimate favorite is Max Scherzer, who now pitches for the New York Mets, and of course Justin Verlander. Both players used to pitch for the Detroit Tigers and oh how I miss those days.

Mlive.com also tells us:

Scherzer, for what it’s worth, has 3,079 career strikeouts and once healthy the two former Tigers will likely continue to pass the active leader title back and forth. Scherzer is out until early July though, so JV will extend his lead this month.

And by the way, just for the record, the one and only Nolan Ryan is Major League Baseballs all time leader of strikeouts. Ryan racked up 5,714 Ks during his incredible 27 year career.

Was Nolan Ryan the greatest pitcher ever? Take a look at bleacherreport.com.