LAKELAND, Fla. -- Opening Day starter was one of the trickiest decisions Brad Ausmus faced in his first two Spring Training camps as Tigers manager. This year, he didn't even need to wait for reporting day."Barring something unforeseen, [Justin Verlander's] going to pitch Opening Day," Ausmus said Tuesday morning at

LAKELAND, Fla. -- Opening Day starter was one of the trickiest decisions Brad Ausmus faced in his first two Spring Training camps as Tigers manager. This year, he didn't even need to wait for reporting day.

"Barring something unforeseen, [Justin Verlander's] going to pitch Opening Day," Ausmus said Tuesday morning at Joker Marchant Stadium, where Ausmus just arrived to begin preparing for his third year in charge.

The Tigers open the season with Interleague Play on April 5 at Miami. Itduring that stretch was partly the result of poor run support, with the Tigers scoring two runs or fewer in seven of the 14 starts.

Verlander started seven consecutive Tigers openers, even beating out reigning American League Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer for the honor in 2014. The streak ended last year, when Price -- a Trade Deadline acquisition the previous summer -- earned the nod over Verlander, who was coming off a '14 season that was subpar by his standards. Ausmus made that decision well before Verlander's injury.

"My gut kind of said that Price deserved it," Ausmus recalled. "And to Ver's credit, when I told him, he absolutely agreed 100 percent. He was very magnanimous about it."

Verlander was graceful at the time, but still competitive. Clearly, the