Verlander Talks Whirlwind Month, Life After: "It's Kind Of Weird" [VIDEO]
By: Will Burchfield
@burchie_kid
In the span of a month -- just a few days, in fact -- Justin Verlander won his first World Series and married Kate Upton in Italy.
"It's been pretty crazy, but what a great month it's been," he told the Today Show on Friday.
After such a whirlwind of excitement, Verlander said it's been strange to settle down.
"We've just had a couple days to decompress, and honestly it's kind of weird. I don't really know what to do with my time. I'm sitting on the couch, like, okay, it's 9 a.m. now, I'll get a bowl of cereal or something. Or go with Kate to workout," he said.
Upton shared a video on Instagram on Thursday in which she's pushing Verlander up a hill on a sled.
"Just my wife pushing me around, as always," said Verlander.
"Just the ball and chain, weighing me down," Upton replied.
Because their wedding took place shortly after the World Series, Verlander missed the Astros' championship parade.
"The wedding was planned before the postseason, otherwise it would have been planned probably a week later. When I got traded (from Detroit) we already had it all planned out," Verlander said.
In trying to map things out, Verlander said he and Upton thought about the dates of the World Series.
"And we literally thought, there's only one thing that could really screw all this up, and that's going to Game 7 of the World Series," said Verlander. "I happened to be pitching Game 6 and I was thinking to myself, 'It's meant to be. Just a little xtra incentive. We gotta win this one!'
"Sure enough, it was a really well-fought game and (the Dodgers) won. Now here comes Game 7 and all of our guests are already arriving at our venue and we're getting texts before the game even started, like, 'Hey, your venue's amazing, your wedding's great. Can't wait for you to show up."
Verlander said he and the Astros developed a tight-knit bond with the city of Houston by lifting its spirits in the wake of Hurricane Harvey.
"It's been incredible, the outpouring of love from that city, We were in a special place to be able to connect with a city when they really needed it...For us to not only go that far but to win it all, man, it really can connect a sports team and a city, and we'll always be linked for that," said Verlander.