Justin Verlander Walked A Tight Rope In Game 5 But FINALLY Got The Monkey Off Of His Back By Securing His First World Series Win

Do you believe in miracles?!?! YES! After 16 years Justin Verlander has finally notched his first World Series win. I know wins and losses don't really mean much anymore, but it was mind bottling that Verlander was 0-6 with an ERA over 6 in 8 World Series starts dating back to his time in Detroit. 

There is literally no debate that Verlander's a first ballot Hall Of Famer. But the one thing sticking out on his resume was how awful he looked in the World Series. He wasn't like Clayton Kershaw, who seems to stink the entire month of October. For JV it was just the Fall Classic.

At first it looked like same old Verlander after he gave up a solo shot to the man who only hits taters, Kyle Schwarber. Kind of figured "here we go again". He did walk a tight rope during his 5 innings giving up 5 hits, striking out 6 and walking 4, so the Phillies had guys on but couldn't get to Verlander after the first. 

Despite being a 17 year vet, the Astros gave Verlander the rookie treatment after his first World Series win after everyone was dragging him on Twitter.

It wasn't always pretty, it wasn't perfect by any means. But Verlander pitched his ass off and thanks to some help from some of the new faces on the team, Jeremy Peña, Trey Mancini, and Chaz McCormick he was able to finally secure that win, which has Houston one more W away from hanging another banner. 

It also could be Verlander's last start as an Astro, so add in that narrative to the storyline and how can you not be excited for the guy. A nice hug from Dusty in the dugout too. Pretty cool to see a guy come through in a big spot when his team needed it. 

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PS. What a play here by my guy Trey. Knew he'd come through big when it counted, always knew he was a menace with the leather.