Ben Verlander Defends Brother Justin Verlander Amid “Worst Luck” During 2025 Season

Justin Verlander has a 0-7 record in 15 starts this season as he picked up another loss against the Philadelphia Phillies on Wednesday.


Ben Verlander Defends Brother Justin Verlander Amid “Worst Luck” During 2025 Season

Ben Verlander and Justin Verlander (Image via Chron/Imago)

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Fortune does not seem to be on the side of Justin Verlander at the moment. Despite recording another quality start, the pitcher ended up losing once again. Following this, his brother and MLB analyst Ben Verlander defended him while venting regarding “worst luck” in 2025 season.

Verlander, the 3-time Cy Young Award winner, signed a one-year deal with the San Francisco Giants during the offseason. This is his 20th season in the big leagues.

The 42-year-old has not had the best of times in the league this year. In his 15 starts this year so far, he has given up 45 runs (40 earned) and has an ERA of 4.70.

The biggest worrying sign for some is that he is yet to win this year. The veteran pitcher has a 0-7 record in 15 starts. On Wednesday, he picked up another loss as he conceded 4 runs (2 earned) against the Philadelphia Phillies.

As Verlander suffered another defeat, his brother vented his frustrations on X. The younger Verlander expressed that stats do not tell the whole story of this season for him.

I’m going to vent. Yes it’s my brother. Yes I’m biased. But Justin’s stats 100% do not tell the story of this season. He’s had many very good starts with truly some of the worst luck I’ve ever seen. It makes no sense to me. Really frustrating to watch. He’s still throwing 97mph with nasty offspeed. That’s the end of me venting. Thank you.

Before the start of the season, Verlander sat at 262 wins. With 0 wins this year, he is still stuck at 262 and still needs 38 wins to reach the 300 wins club. Given his age, the chances of that happening are very low at the moment.

Justin Verlander makes unfortunate MLB history following another loss against Phillies

A day after recording a historic win against the Philadelphia Phillies, the San Francisco Giants got crushed 13-0 by the NL East side. Justin Verlander would end up taking the loss again as he conceded the runs early on. With this loss, he made an unfortunate piece of MLB history.

Justin Verlander
Justin Verlander (Image via MLB)

In the game on Wednesday, the 9-time MLB All-Star pitched 6 innings and did manage to pick up 7 strikeouts. Despite that, he was unable to get a no-result as he gave up 2 earned runs.

According to stats provided by Opta, Verlander is the first pitcher in the All-Star Game era (1933) to enter the break with at least 65 strikeouts and have no wins. There have been over 4,200 instances where a pitcher, entering the break while having at least 65 strikeouts, has at least one win. Verlander is the first one to have this many K’s but not a single win.

The Win-Loss stat, though, is something that has become debatable in recent seasons. One name that has been brought up many times while discussing is Paul Skenes.

The Pittsburgh Pirates ace has an ERA of 1.94 in the 2025 season and has picked up 125 strikeouts in 19 starts. However, he has a 4-7 record as his team has often been restricted offensively by the opposition pitchers. So Verlander would likely not worry much about making an unfortunate piece of MLB history.

Justin Verlander optimistic about turnaround in second half of the season

Justin Verlander ended up taking the loss again on Wednesday as the Phillies routed the Giants 13-0. Despite some poor stats and struggles from the mound, Verlander is optimistic about making a turnaround in the second half of the season.

Justin Verlander
Justin Verlander (Image via Open Source/X)

While speaking to the media regarding his performance, the pitcher expressed that he has been working hard a lot. He believes that this would bring in some positives results for him in the second half of the season which will start after the All-Star break.

I’ve been searching a lot. It’s been difficult. I’ve been working my bu** off, but I’m very optimistic this mechanical fix is the one that propels me into a good second half.

Well, Verlander may have a 0-7 record, but the only record that matters the most is the team’s record. The Giants are 51-43 for the season and are firmly in the spot for a playoff push. Their next assignment before the All-Star Break sees them take on their division rivals, the Los Angeles Dodgers, who are struggling at the moment.

The Dodgers will enter the game on a 6-game losing streak. The Giants would be hoping to inflict more pain on them and close down the 5 games lead they have on top of the NL West Standings.

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