Justin Verlander knows exactly what Tarik Skubal is walking into.
After the Detroit Tigers sent Skubal to the Los Angeles Dodgers, the two former teammates have stayed in touch, and Verlander said he offered a simple message before the move: getting traded is something a player has to live through to really understand.
Months after the deal, Verlander joined “On Base” with Mookie Betts for Bleacher Report and explained what he told the 2024/2025 AL Cy Young Award winner.
"Getting traded is one of those things that you just really have to experience it yourself," Verlander told Betts. "I'm not really going to be able to prepare you for this except to say, 'It's like walking into a new school'.
"The only advice I had was: you get so stuck in your ways with one organization; it's nice to see something else, especially before free agency. You don't know what you don't know. You get more information, you meet new people, you experience the other side of the coin and I think that opens up a whole new world if you're open to it."
"We're both continuing to reach out; he knows I'm always here if he wants to pick my brain."
For Verlander, that kind of move is familiar territory. He was traded from Detroit to Houston in 2017, and he said that experience brought plenty of lessons, along with two World Series championships and relationships with other All-Stars. Skubal, at least on the surface, seems to be settling in just fine with the Dodgers, sharing photos with his new teammates and celebrating a playoff berth.
The Dodgers won the NL West and are headed back to the postseason, while Detroit is left to close out a disappointing 2026 season that began with big expectations and ended with the Tigers becoming sellers at the MLB Trade Deadline and finishing under .500.
That collapse came after a rotation on paper that looked loaded. Detroit brought back Verlander, signed Framber Valdez and paired them with Skubal, Casey Mize and Jack Flaherty. Instead, the group unraveled quickly, and both Skubal and Mize were eventually dealt to the National League.
Skubal’s move to Los Angeles was the biggest of the bunch, and it made him the first Tigers ace traded at the deadline since Verlander in 2017.
Now the two are on opposite coasts of the Tigers’ season finale. Skubal’s final regular-season start is set for Friday, Sept. 25, against the San Francisco Giants, while Verlander is scheduled to make what he said will be the final start of his Major League career at Comerica Park on Saturday, Sept. 26, as Detroit finishes the 162-game schedule.
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