PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Justin Verlander used his fingers in this trip to Philadelphia simply to tip his cap toward applauding All-Star Game fans.
He once playfully flipped off Phillies fans when his Houston Astros were in Philadelphia for the 2022 World Series.
There was only mutual respect in this game.
The 43-year-old Verlander was one of the few All-Stars on Tuesday night to receive a warm ovation in Philadelphia from a crowd that reveled in jeering just about any player who was not in a Phillies uniform.
Verlander is set to retire at the end of the season to cap a career that includes three Cy Young Awards.
Up first, one more Midsummer Classic.
“In his 10th and final All-Star Game, please welcome to Philadelphia, Justin Verlander,” the public address announcer noted.
Verlander didn't totally sit out the American League's 4-0 win over the National League on Tuesday night.
Toronto manager John Schneider asked Verlander to address the team and share thoughts on the importance of the All-Star honor out of respect for the pitcher's career.
“You never know when you’re going to be in this position,” Schneider said as he relayed Verlander's message. “You have to appreciate the people along the way. He's made lifelong friends from being in this game for so long.”
Verlander had more gas left in the pregame speech tank. He talked AL starter Dylan Cease out of throwing a changeup as the first pitch of the game and go with a heater against Phillies slugger Kyle Schwarber.
Cease threw a 96.9-mph four-seam strike to Schwarber and struck out the side in the first inning,
“He could be a politician,” Cease said of Verlander.
Kevin McGonigle, Verlander's' 21-year-old Tigers teammate and suburban Philadelphia native, soaked in the moment when Verlander took the floor.
“He kept telling the guys that you don’t take anything for granted and if you keep working hard, you will find yourself back in this room multiple time,” McGonigle said. “Be a good teammate and building relationships and getting to learn as much as you can from other guys.”
Verlander, who did not discuss the speech, enjoyed the chance to participate in some final festivities and walked the All-Star red carpet in the afternoon with his wife, model Kate Upton, and their two young children.
The lone bummer for Verlander is that the Detroit Tigers All-Star was unable to pitch in the game as he recovers from a hamstring injury. Verlander, the oldest player in Major League Baseball, signed a $13 million, one-year contract to rejoin the Tigers in February.
He has made only one start in an injury-ravaged season and was named to the All-Star team as a Legend Pick by Commissioner Rob Manfred. Phillies slugger Bryce Harper earned the honor in the National League.
“I’m happy with the body of work,” Verlander said ahead of the game. “I hope I can add to it somehow, someway in the second half. When I look back, I know I gave it everything.”
Verlander went 183-115 from 2005 to 2017 with the Tigers. He won the American League Rookie of the Year award in 2006 and both the AL MVP and Cy Young Award in 2011. He helped Detroit reach the World Series in 2006 and 2012, along with four straight division titles from 2011 to 2014.
Verlander was the 2017 ALCS MVP in Houston and helped the Astros win the World Series that year, and was a key player for them when they won another title in 2022. He won his second and third Cy Young Awards in 2019 and 2022.
Verlander, who also had brief stints with the New York Mets and San Francisco, played coy when asked about which team cap he would choose for his sure-thing induction into the Hall of Fame.
“At least, I was able to narrow it down to two,” Verlander said with a laugh. “I’m not there yet.”
Verlander relaxed against a clubhouse wall next to his locker as he reflected over a career that stamped him as perhaps the best of his era.
Verlander has a career record of 266-159 with a 3.33 ERA in 556 starts across 21 major league seasons with the Tigers, Astros, Mets and San Francisco Giants. He has 3,554 strikeouts while tossing 26 complete games, including nine shutouts.
Not bad for a kid from Virginia who was sent to a baseball academy by his family to help him gain arm strength. His parents knew so little about how to guide a kid that flashed big league potential that his father, Richard, bought a most unique kind of instructional guide.
“My dad bought a ‘How to Pitch for Dummies’ book,” Verlander said to laughter. “I'm not joking. He's like, OK, step one, you step back with your left foot. Step two, you turn this way. We were doing that in my front yard because he learned I could throw a rock pretty far.”
Turned out, with a little help along the way, Verlander learned to throw a baseball pretty hard.
Verlander just hopes in his last season, he hasn't thrown his last one.
AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb
Detroit Tigers' Justin Verlander and Kate Upton pose with their kids on the red carpet for the MLB baseball All-Star game Tuesday, July 14, 2026, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Chris Szagola)
U.S. President Donald Trump said Tuesday the U.S. has no talks planned with Iran but insisted the Strait of Hormuz remains “open and operating,” despite limited traffic and a reported strike on a ship exiting the waterway.
Earlier this week, Trump also threatened to bomb Oman as the country sought a deal with Iran to manage shipping traffic through the strait, two regional officials said Tuesday, a day after Trump reportedly leveled the threat if Oman "gets in the way.” Iran says the waterway will not be reopened until the U.S. meets its conditions.
As talks between Iran and Oman continue, a projectile hit a ship in the strait and Iran-backed Houthi rebels claimed they fired drones at an oil refinery in Saudi Arabia.
Here’s a look at the latest developments Tuesday in the Iran war and the wider Middle East. Full coverage can be found here.
As Oman and Iran say they are nearing a deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, Trump said on social media Tuesday that the U.S. blockade of Iranian ports remains “in full force and effect,” but asserted that all water mines have been removed and that other marine traffic was free to pass.
Trump posted a map depicting the strait as U.S. territory.
Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi appeared to respond to Trump’s post.
“Just as Trump correctly wrote the name of the eternal Persian Gulf, soon his delusion regarding the Strait of Hormuz will either be corrected or we will correct the delusions of this deluded man," he wrote on X.
The Trump administration has told Oman it opposes parts of the yet-to-be-announced deal, according to officials briefed on the U.S. position. Those include joint Iranian and Omani management of the passage's exit route and the collection of voluntary fees from vessels, even if the money is used for security and maritime environmental protection.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to journalists.
The White House on Tuesday referred to Trump’s remarks in the Oval Office and declined to comment further about Oman.
— By Samy Magdy in Cairo
The Egyptian Foreign Ministry said Tuesday that the Iranian-Omani deal could pave the way for Washington and Tehran to return to negotiations for a “comprehensive and permanent deal that addresses all concerns and enhances regional security and stability.”
The statement came after a meeting between Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty and Omani counterpart Badr al-Busaidi. But it did not address Trump’s latest threat against Oman.
The 60-day negotiating period ended this week between the U.S. and Iran with no clear end to the war in sight.
Ship traffic through the Strait of Hormuz dropped significantly last week, with confirmed crossings falling 19.5% to 95 transits. Only three vessels made it through the waterway on Sunday, according to shipping data platform Kpler.
The ships used the Iranian-designated route through the strait, with no crossings recorded through the Omani routes.
Crossings through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait increased 6.7% to 254 transits, while so-called dark transits, in which ships turn off the transponders that broadcast their location, fell from 40 to 16, Kpler said.
An unidentified projectile damaged the engine room of a ship in the Strait of Hormuz near Oman and “resulted in a crew casualty," according to the British military’s UK Maritime Trade Operations center.
The maritime monitoring agency did not release any details about the ship or its cargo, and it was not clear whether the crew member was killed or wounded.
No environmental damage has been reported and the agency said the Omani Coast Guard was assisting other crew members and authorities were investigating.
Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels claimed they fired drones at an oil refinery in neighboring Saudi Arabia, the latest attack threatening to reignite Yemen’s civil war and open another front in the Middle East.
The attack targeted a facility run by Saudi Aramco, Saudi Arabia’s state-owned oil company, according to a report by the Houthi-run SABA news agency. There were no immediate reports of damage or comment from Saudi Arabia.
The Houthis have escalated attacks against government forces in Yemen and oil facilities in Saudi Arabia, which supports the Yemeni government, and the kingdom’s shipping in the Red Sea, an important alternative to the Strait of Hormuz.
An Israeli strike hit Gaza City on Tuesday, killing six people, including a child, and wounding 14 others, according to Shifa Hospital, where the casualties were taken.
The Israeli military said it struck Hamas commanders in the Shati area who it said were planning to carry out attacks against Israeli forces.
The heaviest fighting has subsided since a ceasefire in the more than two-year war took hold in October. Israeli forces have carried out repeated airstrikes since then, killing at least 1,266 Palestinians, according to health officials in Gaza.
The Gaza Health Ministry, which is part of the Hamas-led government, maintains detailed casualty records that are seen as generally reliable by U.N. agencies and independent experts. But it does not give a breakdown of civilians and militants.
The defense ministry of the United Arab Emirates said two ballistic missiles were launched from Iran toward the UAE on Tuesday.
One landed outside of the country’s waters, and the other landed within them, the Emirati Defense Ministry said. It was unclear whether the missiles were shot down by air defenses or fell. No damage or injuries were reported.
Iran early Wednesday rejected the UAE’s claims that it launched missiles toward the country.
In a post on social media, the spokesperson for the Iranian Foreign Ministry, Esmail Baghaei, said Dubai’s accusations were “detrimental to ongoing efforts to strengthen trust among the countries of the region and prevent a further deterioration of security.” He called on the nations in the region to not make “baseless accusations” against Iran.
In the weeks after the U.S. and Israel launched a war against Iran on Feb. 28, the UAE was frequently targeted by Iranian missiles and drones, but Tuesday’s reported attack was the first in weeks.
Dark oil residue covers parts of the shoreline at Shib Deraz Beach on Qeshm Island, Iran, Thursday, Aug. 13, 2026, amid ongoing wartime attacks on vessels and infrastructure in and around the Strait of Hormuz, though the spill’s source has not been independently determined. (Amirhosein Khorgooei/ISNA)
