Astros' Justin Verlander 'on cloud nine' after 1st bullpen session

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Watching Houston’s run through the 2021 playoffs, Justin Verlander considered lending a hand – an arm, actually – to the cause.

The two-time AL Cy Young Award winner had pitched in only one game since 2019, but his bullpen sessions while rehabbing from Tommy John surgery were going so well that he felt could get major league hitters out.

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"My doctor put it very bluntly," Verlander said. "If you want to go out in a blaze of glory and maybe blow yourself out, by all means go pitch in the World Series. But if you want to pitch a few more years like you’ve told me you want to, then you’d be an idiot to do that."

Verlander’s return to an Astros uniform ultimately waited until Sunday — and it occurred on the back fields at the Astros’ complex at the Ballpark of the Palm Beaches during Houston’s first official day of spring workouts.

The 2011 AL MVP threw about 40 pitches in two simulated innings. He threw his fastball and controlled an array of off-speed pitches as hitters — mostly minor leaguers, but Michael Brantley did step in — stood in the batter's box.

"I’m on cloud nine," Verlander said.

Verlander said he’s "a hair behind" where he’d normally be this close to opening day, but that’s intentional.

Verlander applied a lesson he learned in 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic ended spring training about 10 days prior to opening day. When the regular season finally started in July, Verlander pitched in only one game before being shut down.

FILE - Houston Astros pitcher Justin Verlander throws to the St. Louis Cardinals during the first inning of a spring training baseball game on March 3, 2020, in