In a year when Tiger Woods added to his legendary status by winning the Masters at the age of 43, the Houston Astros’ Justin Verlander has boosted his Hall of 
Fame credentials by throwing his third no-hitter at the age of 36 in a 2-0 victory against the Toronto Blue Jays. Verlander was totally dominant in his outing, getting 14 strikeouts while surrendering only 1 walk and zero hits.
Tied with Bob Feller, Cy Young and Larry Corcoran at 3 no-hitters, the only Major Leaguers in history now 
standing ahead of Verlander are Nolan Ryan, the all time-strikeout king, with 7, and Sandy Koufax, arguably the greatest lefthanded pitcher in the history of the sport, with 4. As Verlander said in a post-game televised interview, “I’d be lying if I said I didn’t know that the list of guys that have thrown three instead of two gets pretty small. Some of the guys I idolized, it’s a special moment.”
Tying Cy Young is even more ironic, as the pitching award that bears his name very well could be the 
crowning individual achievement to his year. Like Tom Brady in football, Justin Verlander has continued to get better with age. Currently, he leads the American League in ERA (2.56) and ERA+ (177), and leads the Major Leagues in wins (17), innings pitched (193), strikeouts (257) and WHIP (0.772). In fact, Verlander’s current WHIP for 2019 is now second all-time to Pedro Martinez’s 2000 season (0.737), often considered one of the greatest seasons all time for a pitcher. This season, he and Astros teammate Gerritt Cole became only the second teammates to post consecutive 250 plus strikeout seasons (Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling were the others with the D-Backs).
Since Verlander arrived with the Astros, he has cemented his status as one of the most dominant right handed pitchers ever. He already had historic seasons in Detroit, including his 2011 Tigers season when he won the
AL Cy Young and the league MVP, posting a 24-5 record, 2.40 ERA and 0.920 WHIP. The year he was traded to the Astros, 2017, he had a 10-8 record and 3.82 ERA with Detroit. Solid numbers, but many in baseball thought his best years were behind him.
The Astros gambled he could still deliver with a dominant four-seam fastball and slider. Even the Astros, however, could not have known that Verlander would be as magnificent as he has been. Not only did he help to deliver the team its first World Series title in 2017, he has been nothing short of sensational since donning an Astros uniform.
Including his no-hitter vs. the Blue Jays, his Astro stats are 68 starts, a 38-14 record, a 2.43 ERA, 590 Ks, and an 
0.825 WHIP. Pitchers in their mid—thirties are not supposed to get much better, which is why this is so extraordinary. Baseball fans have almost become desensitized to his staggering numbers, which is why he as much a lock for Cooperstown as Wayne Newton is to show up on a stage in Las Vegas.
No-hitters are special because they are simple to understand yet very hard to achieve – get the opposing team to make 27 outs without surrendering a hit. Though this is the fourth no-hitter this season, two of the other ones have been combined no-hitters. The Oakland A’s Mike Fiers and the Astros’ Justin Verlander are the only two starters so far in 2019 to go the distance with no-nos.
When Abraham Toro delivered the go-ahead home run in the top of the 9th and Justin Verlander captured the last 3 outs, history was made. “I’m so happy to be able to celebrate this with my teammates,” Verlanders uttered post-game. And we are so happy to be able to watch legendary players fight off Father Time and add milestone achievements to their careers.
