The entire 2025 season flashed before the eyes of Detroit Tigers fans on Friday night in Miami. Reigning and likely defending AL Cy Young award winner Tarik Skubal threw a pitch in the fourth inning and felt something unusual along his rib cage under his throwing arm. The lefty ace immediately gestured to the dugout, but manager A.J. Hinch and the training staff were already on their way to the mound. After a conversation that was pretty brief and did not feature a practice pitch to test things out, Skubal left the game
and the Tigers went on to lose to the Marlins.
After the game, Skubal expressed optimism that he would be fine and that he was just proceeding with an abundance of caution with the postseason so close. Obviously any significant soft tissue injury would jeopardize the entire rest of the season for him. Still, the fact that he was already in the middle of one of his worst starts of the season, surrendering two home runs to the lowly Marlins, only added to the fear that the injury had built throughout the outing and impeded his performance.
There was nothing to do but wait, but probably that waiting involved a stiff drink for many Tigers fans last night.
On Saturday afternoon, the good news was first reported by Jeff Passan and the Tigers regular beat writers. Imaging did not reveal any underlying issue, and Tarik Skubal expects to make his next scheduled start.
The Tigers haven’t really been able to get much traction since their deep swoon in the second half of July. They haven’t been much more than a .500 team since their red hot start in the first half. The loss of Skubal had us feeling like the Tigers could follow teams like the Mets into a late season collapse, even though the division title in the AL Central is already pretty well in hand with a 7.5 game lead and only 14 games left in the regular season.
With a pitching staff that has struggled badly in the second half and is currently missing top reliever Kyle Finnegan as well, losing Skubal would have been an absolute death knell for their chances in the October postseason tournament. As it turns out, the Tigers’ ace is apparently good to go, and as a result the Tigers chances of at least defeating their AL opposition look reasonably good once again.
Crisis averted. The emotional rollercoaster that is the postseason just got off to an early start.
