Justin Verlander reveals reason behind dropping 'delicious' pre-game ritual

Justin Verlander is a proud New York Mets player. At 39 years old, he has shown the world he is capable of not only competing but achieving individual accolades at the highest level. Recently in a podcast, he revealed how he had finally given up on his pre-game ritual of having a Taco Bell.

Verlander has had a 18-year career in the MLB already. He started off his career with the Detroit Tigers before moving to the Houston Astros in 2017. He is a 9 time MLB All-Star and 2 time World Series Champion with the Astros.

He is also the only player with multiple World Series championships, an MVP Award, a Rookie of the Year Award, and three Cy Young Awards.

In a podcast interview with 'Mets'd Up', Verlander was asked how about his long standing superstition of having a Taco Bell before his game and how he finally came out of it.

The 39-year-old said:

"To be honest I haven't eaten Taco Bell in a long time. It is probably the right decision. But I think what happened was, the core surgery unfortunately led to me not having a not that great season. But that not great season allowed me to get rid of all the superstitions I had." Justin Verlander said on the podcast

Justin Verlander went through a core surgery at the start of 2014. What followed was a mediocre season with just 159 strikeouts and a 6.9 K/9 IP rate, both of which were the lowest since his rookie season.

He had another major incident when he had to undergo Tommy John surgery that put him out for the entirety of 2021 season.

Justin Verlander also speaks about Steve Cohen on the interview

New York Mets' owner Steve Cohen has been on a roll signing top players with little worry about the amount he has to dish out to get them. Justin Verlander, being one of them signed a 2-year, $86.7 million contract with the team.

During the podcast he was asked why did he choose to come to the Mets. He responded by saying:

"Early on in this offseason I had a conversation with Steve. It was not what I had expected. We didn't talk about baseball that much. He just wanted to know me as a person. A few weeks after that when me and my family were about to make the decision, that conversation just stuck out to me."

It remains to be seen if Steve Cohen's elaborate plan of building a World Series team comes to fruition. The Mets would like to improve their 101-win last season that eventually ended with them losing in the NL Wild Card Series.