Verlander Will Start Opening Day

By Ashley Dunkak
@AshleyDunkak

CBS DETROIT - With 2013 Cy Young winner Max Scherzer and 2013 American League ERA champion Anibal Sanchez among the options to start Opening Day for the Detroit Tigers, the team stuck with its most reliable veteran.

Justin Verlander will be first out on the mound in 2014, and it will be his seventh straight Opening Day start.

IT'S OFFICIAL: @JustinVerlander will be the #Tigers #OpeningDay starter! pic.twitter.com/6xsc0L49Ij
— Detroit Tigers (@tigers) March 17, 2014

Verlander will be the Tigers pitcher to start that many consecutive Opening Day games since Jack Morris started 11 straight between 1980 and 1990.

Between Scherzer, Sanchez and Verlander, new Tigers manager Brad Ausmus had plenty of talent from which to pick. That situation could have been a tricky one, but all three would have been viable choices. In any case, having three potential No. 1 starters is hardly a burden.

Ausmus made the announcement. "It's a decision 29 other managers would like to have [to make]," he said.
— Jason Beck (@beckjason) March 17, 2014

Opening Day for the Tigers is March 31, roughly two weeks away.