This is must-click link material: a story by Brandon Sneed at Bleacher Report about the Justin Verlander Renaissance.
You know the basics: Cy Young/MVP-winning pitcher who began to break down in 2013, who soon became more famous for who his girlfriend was than his pitching and who, somehow, got back to Cy Young form by 2016 and last year helped lead the Houston Astros to the World Series title.
This story is about the “somehow.” Turns out that that girlfriend, Kate Upton, played a huge, huge part in the Renaissance. Not just as some sort of cliche moral support device — though she certainly provided that in spades — but in helping him find a doctor who, in turn, helped figure out what was truly wrong with Verlander and helped him rebuild his health and his delivery to get back to his old elite level. The Tigers did not comment about how Upton and Verlander’s new doctor could help him figure it out when they could not, but I suppose that’s all rather academic.
A good read for a couple of reasons. First, because it covers an elite ballplayer’s comeback, and those stories are always good. But second, because of a reason Lindsey Adler of The Athletic noted a little bit ago:
Yup.
