Tigers Star Tarik Skubal on Precipice of Accomplishing Feat Not Seen in Decades

The strength of the Detroit Tigers is their pitching staff.

With reigning AL Cy Young Award winner Tarik Skubal leading the rotation, the decision to re-sign Jack Flaherty this past offseason to create a strong one-two punch has been bolstered by the emergence of Reese Olson and Casey Mize. Adding star prospect Jackson Jobe to the mix has created a high-end unit.

Skubal is the show, though.

Every time the left-hander takes the mound, he's expected to do something great.

And more often than not, he delivers.

That was on fully display during his last outing against the Cleveland Guardians on May 25 when he threw his first-career complete game where he only allowed two hits while striking out 13 batters with zero walks.

Doing that in 94 pitches was even more eye-opening, and it was the latest reminder that the Tigers have the best starting pitcher in the sport.

But the scary thing is Skubal is getting better.

Coming off his Triple Crown-winning performance in 2024 where he had a record of 18-4, an ERA of 2.39 and 228 strikeouts, the superstar has even better underlying metrics this year compared to last.

Skubal had a FIP of 2.49 and a K/9 rate of 10.7.

This season, those are 1.98 and 12.1, respectively, both figures that lead the American League.

His Stuff+ and Location+ in 2024 was 112 and 100, with those metrics increasing to 119 and 111 so far in 2025.

Skubal is striking out batters at a 35% clip this year compared to 30.3% during the last campaign, while also walking batters 2.7% of the time compared to the 4.6% number he had in 2024.

Simply put, the lefty has been even better than the version that dominated Major League Baseball last season, and that has him sitting in pole position to win the AL Cy Young Award in back-to-back years, something that hasn't been done since Hall of Famer Pedro Martinez accomplished that feat in 1999 and 2000.

That's the level Skubal is pitching at this season.

The 25-year gap since someone has won consecutive Cy Young Awards in the American League shows just how hard that is to accomplish. But Skubal is on the precipice of doing exactly that if he keeps this level going for the remainder of the campaign.

So far, he has shown no signs of slowing down.

And that is great news for Detroit as they continue to impress through the early part of the season.