Good Morning, ODU Fam. It’s been one heck of a ride, JV!

What all do we have stirring in today’s Brew? Check it out below!

⚾️ What A Run
🏈 Come Along For The Ride
⏱️ Countin’ Down: 57 Days Away
​🦁 And much more!

📈 STOCK UP

🔼 What A Run. One of the best careers of this era of Major League Baseball and the best player ever to come out of ODU is officially winding down.

This week, Monarch legend Justin Verlander announced that he will retire at the end of the 2026 season. In addition, he was selected as a “legend pick” for the All-Star game by MLB commissioner Rob Manfred.

Simply put, Verlander is one of the most slam-dunk Hall of Fame careers of all-time. He has thrown 3571.1 innings over 556 games with a 3.33 ERA. He has 266 wins and 26 complete games, including nine shutouts and three no-hitters. He has 3,554 strikeouts, eighth on the all-time list.

Verlander was selected to the All-Star team ten times. He won two World Series rings, three Cy Youngs, a Rookie of the Year award, a Triple Crown and an MVP.

⚾️ More On Verlander’s Career

🔼 Come Along For The Ride. This week, away game tickets for the 2026 Old Dominion Football season were officially put on sale at ODUSports.com.

The Monarchs play at Viginia Tech, Georgia State, App State, Louisiana Tech, Coastal Carolina and UConn this season.

For fans that purchase tickets through ODU are guaranteed to be setting within the ODU ticket allotment and with ODU fans.

🏈 COUNTIN’ DOWN: 5️⃣7️⃣ DAYS TIL KICKOFF

Throughout the summer, we will be counting down the days
to the return of ODU Football this fall. The Monarchs will host
Norfolk State on September 5 at 6 p.m.

The date: Nov. 6, 2010
The opponent: Savannah State

In just its second season as an FCS Independent, Thomas DeMarco and the ODU football squad thrilled the home crowd by lighting up the scoreboard to the tune of a 5️⃣7️⃣-9 victory over visiting Savannah State.

DeMarco passed for two TDs and ran for two more as the Monarchs scored 50 first half-points and added a third-quarter TD to post the highest single-game point total in program history at the time (now it’s t-10th all-time).

🏈 WE’RE IN THE GAME

The excitement is building for the upcoming football season and plenty of fans will enjoy those moments on the newest edition of EASports College Football 27.

Before the game was released to the public, our Monarchs got a sneak peek of what’s to come and even had some reaction to this year’s individual rankings.

🦁 MONARCH TRIVIA

As we mentioned, Justin Verlander has struck out 3,554 hitters in his incredible MLB career, which is the eighth-most all-time.

Which opposing hitter has he struck out the most?

Got a guess?

Scroll to the bottom to find the answer!

🗓️ ON THE DOCKET

* All Times are Eastern

Saturday, September 5th
🏈 Football vs. Norfolk State @ 6 pm l ESPN+

🦁 Click here to see the full ODU Athletics Calendar

📬 SHARE THE BREW

Do you know a friend or family member who is a Monarch fan?

Simply forward them this email and they can sign up to receive the brew by clicking the link below to subscribe. The Brew is sent every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday and is completely free!

🎉 TRIVIA ANSWER

Answer: Shin-Soo Choo (39 times)

🦁 Have a great one, y’all!