The Houston Astros were yet to make a big move as the playoffs come nearer and nearer as the Dodgers acquired Yu Darvish, the Yankees Acquired Sonny Gray, and the Angels just recently acquired Justin Upton in search of a Wild Card berth. So they decided to make a splash right before the deadline to acquire a player and still use him in the Postseason. They went out to the rebuilding Detroit Tigers and acquired their ace, Justin Verlander.

The 2016 Cy Young Award runner-up was sent to Houston while prospects Franklin Perez, Daz Cameron, and Jake Rogers were sent to the Tigers to kickstart the rebuild. The Astros could not pass up on the opportunity to add Verlander to their pitching rotation as he will join Dallas Keuchle at the head of the pitching staff.

As a matter of fact, the reason why Verlander held back so long on making the deal is that he reportedly wanted to play for the Cubs and was holding out until the last-minute to see if they would make a move, they didn’t, and Verlander will make his first start with the American Leagues best team on Tuesday, September 5th.

One reason the Cubbies may have not wanted to make a move on Verlander was the huge sum of money still on his contract. As a matter of fact, the Astros are now on the hook for $40 Million of the $56 Million still on Justin Verlander’s contract.

The veteran 34-year-old ace is one of the highest profile players in the MLB despite a meager 4.96 ERA through his first 17 starts this season. Despite that, Verlander has been hot as of late recording a 2.31 ERA since a poor start to begin the month of July. He is throwing as hard as ever and could be a major asset for the Astros if he continues on this outstanding pace.

If this deal goes the Astros’ way, then you could expect to see the Astros continue their season of dominance and come into the postseason playing like never seen from the Astros before.