Why Justin Verlander’s Farewell and Trea Turner’s Season Are Trending

Last updated: September 25, 2026 (UTC)

Baseball fans on X are marking what posts describe as Justin Verlander’s final MLB start with the Detroit Tigers, sharing clips of an emotional address to Tigers fans and his reflections on a long career. The farewell is dominating the conversation, but a separate thread has also picked up: sharp criticism of Trea Turner’s season, including a response attributed to Turner himself.

What started the conversation

According to posts circulating on X, Verlander is scheduled to make his last start on Saturday, and the days leading up to it have included a Tigers celebration and a pregame speech to fans. The most widely shared clip comes from @MLB, which posted video of Verlander addressing the crowd and quoted him saying, “I am, and always will be, a Detroit Tiger.” That line has been reposted on its own by other accounts as well.

Reporter @BradGalli posted that Verlander was emotional as he prepared for the start while speaking at the celebration. Another post promoted a documentary-style program, described as the story of Verlander’s career, calling him “a once in a lifetime player.”

Verlander’s own words

Much of the discussion centers on quotes attributed to Verlander rather than on commentary about him. A post from @FoulTerritoryTV, the most-liked post in the conversation, says Verlander told the show he plans to pitch “until my arm falls off” on Saturday. The same post quotes him saying that if he can reach one hundred pitches, he intends to do it. Posters have treated the quote as a signal that he wants to finish on his own terms rather than make a ceremonial appearance.

A separate post from @BradGalli offers a more reflective side. According to that post, Verlander said he is ready to retire with no second-guessing, and pointed to 300 wins as a goal he had set for himself. The post quotes him saying:

“I feel like I ran my race. I feel like I gave it everything I could. There were signs. ‘Play to the wheels fall off.’ The wheel fell off.”

The same post notes a lighter moment in which Verlander caught himself mid-sentence and swore, a detail that seems to have added to the post’s appeal.

Another post quotes Verlander as saying, “I’ve pushed as hard as I possibly can,” and says he credited the support from Tigers fans throughout the season as what drove him to make one last start.

Tributes and the emotional side

Alongside the quotes, several posts are simply tributes. One user called the evening’s ceremony a “spectacular tribute.” Another wrote that they are not emotionally ready for Verlander to retire, explaining that he has been on an active roster for their entire time following baseball. That post captures a theme that runs through the farewell posts: Verlander’s career is long enough that, for some fans, he has always been part of the sport.

One post adds a competitive angle. The poster says they interviewed the opposing manager, described as a former teammate of Verlander’s, who said he would not take it easy on Verlander in his final outing. That post has drawn far less engagement than the tribute clips, but it is one of the few that looks at the game itself rather than the send-off.

The Trea Turner thread

A smaller, much less celebratory conversation is running at the same time. Writer @rich_hofmann posted that he knows it is pointless to keep complaining about the same thing on social media, but that it “cannot be emphasized enough” how poor Trea Turner’s season has been, using the word “terrible.” The post has drawn hundreds of likes.

One user went further, asking what the point of Turner is at all. That is a blunt, one-line reaction rather than an argument, and it reflects the frustrated tone of the thread.

Turner’s own perspective appears in a post from @SportsRadioWIP, which quotes him as saying his situation is “more frustration than it is pressure.” That quote gives the discussion a second side, though the post itself drew little engagement compared with the criticism.

These assessments of Turner’s season are opinions. The posts do not cite specific statistics, and “terrible” is a subjective judgment from the people posting it, not an established measure.

What’s unverified and still open

Most of what is circulating about Verlander consists of quotes shared by reporters and official accounts, including the “arm falls off” remark, the 100-pitch plan and his comments about 300 wins. Those are presented here as they appear in the posts. The statements about what his retirement means to fans are personal reactions, not facts about the wider fan base.

Some things the posts cannot settle:

• How Verlander will actually perform in the start, and whether he reaches the pitch count he described, are not addressed in the posts beyond his stated intentions.
• The Turner posts describe frustration with his season so far, but none of them offer evidence about whether his performance will change before the season ends.

Why it resonates

The two threads have little in common beyond timing, but together they show two sides of the sport. The Verlander posts are about closure: a player, in his own quoted words, saying he gave everything he had and is at peace with stopping. Fans responding to him are reflecting on how long he has been part of their baseball lives.

The Turner posts are about a season still in progress and the impatience that comes with it. Critics are voicing frustration, while Turner, according to the quote shared by @SportsRadioWIP, frames his own experience in similar terms. For now, the farewell is drawing far more attention, led by the clips of Verlander telling Tigers fans he will always be one of them.

Sources / posts referenced

• @FoulTerritoryTV on X: “Justin Verlander told @AJPierzynski12 that he plans to pitch "until my arm falls off" on…”
• @MLB on X: “"I am, and always will be, a Detroit Tiger." Justin Verlander addresses Tigers fans prior to…”
• @BradGalli on X: “Justin Verlander said he's ready to retire. No second guessing. "I can be sad. But why? 300…”
• @rich_hofmann on X: “I know it is fruitless complaining about the same thing over and over again on social media, but it really…”
• @BradGalli on X: “Justin Verlander is emotional as he prepares for his final MLB start, speaking at his Tigers celebration”
• @SportsRadioWIP on X: “Trea Turner “it’s more frustration than it is pressure” Via @MrUram”