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Tarik Skubal's Historic Stretch Should Have Tigers Star Earning Second Cy Young

Originally posted on Detroit Tigers on SI
By Kenneth Teape | Last updated Sep 26, 2025 7:00 PM ET

Not much has gone right for the Detroit Tigers over the last few months, with their 15.5-game lead in the American League Central evaporating. Their struggles have been exacerbated by the Cleveland Guardians catching fire at the same time to erase the gap that existed.

This has been a historic meltdown already. Even if the Tigers make the playoffs, they are now on the receiving end of some brutal MLB history. 15.5 games is the biggest lead a team has ever surrendered in a division or league, which they will try to overcome in their final three games.

Ace Tarik Skubal will certainly take some of that blame upon his shoulders. He started Game 1 of their three-game series against the Guardians and was rolling through five innings. After throwing a shutout, though, things fell apart in the sixth inning and he was responsible for the implosion.

He recorded an error, a balk and a wild pitch all in the same inning. It was the first time that has ever happened to a Cy Young Award winner, and it could not have come at a worse time given the circumstances.

Alas, one outing isn’t going to define Skubal’s season. It might be what he is focused on right now, but Detroit is still alive in the playoff race in large part because of the contributions he has provided.

Tarik Skubal Picked as AL Cy Young Award Winner

Jayson Stark of The Athletic (subscription required) has picked the Tigers ace as the AL Cy Young Award winner, and it is hard to argue against that. A big reason he is on pace to earn the prestigious honor for the second straight year is a historically dominant stretch he put together after the team lost his first two outings of the year.

“Over his next 26, which took him all the way into September, he went 13-2, with a 1.86 ERA, 212 strikeouts and 24 walks. You know who else has had a 26-stretch like that one — with 200 K’s, less than 25 walks and an ERA under 2.00? According to Baseball Reference, nobody would be a good guess!” Stark wrote.

The end of the season isn’t going in the fashion Skubal or Detroit would want. But that doesn't erase months' worth of domination that he compiled on the mound. Opponents could not figure him out, with the talented lefty taking his performance to another level after an impressive 2024 campaign.

He pounds the zone with regularity and opponents still can’t hit him. Whiffs are being generated despite constantly working in the zone, which theoretically should be the easiest offerings to hit. When owning the pitch mix he does, there is nothing easy about finding success against him.

Now, he is set to put himself in some scarce company as a pitcher who not only wins the Cy Young Award twice, but does so in back-to-back years.