The Dodgers are expected to hand Tarik Skubal the ball for Game 1 of the NLDS, and that alone is enough to drag the Tigers’ old postseason pain right back into the present.
For Detroit fans, Skubal’s 2025 ALDS exit is still the sore spot. Game 5 ended with him walking off after six innings and 99 pitches, and plenty of fans have never fully bought the idea that the moment was simply too much to ask of one pitcher.
The offense and bullpen let the Tigers down that night, and there was at least a case that keeping him in might have done more harm than good if he truly had nothing left. AJ Hinch may have been the one who made the call, but that didn’t make the ending feel any better.
What made it sting even more was everything that followed. After that brutal loss, Skubal joked that he’d wondered if he could reenter in the late innings, which didn’t exactly land well with a fan base still grinding through the aftermath.
Then came the regular-season start for the Dodgers shortly after the trade, when Skubal was notably self-critical after a six-inning outing. Tigers fans would have loved to hear that kind of reflection after the postseason game instead of the shrug and “That’s just baseball” they got.
Now he’s in line to open the NLDS for Los Angeles, and the obvious hope in Detroit is that this version of Skubal looks nothing like the one they watched in 2025.
That said, it’s fair to expect he won’t. Skubal is in a walk year, and that usually changes the calculation.
Pitching with a championship chase in mind is one thing; pitching in a way that helps his free-agent value is another. But for Tigers fans, that doesn’t exactly make the whole thing feel better.
If anything, it adds another layer of frustration: the possibility that he may only be fully ready to empty the tank now, and for a team with the kind of financial muscle to keep him.
The trade deadline was two months ago to the day, and the Tigers’ last stand in the ALDS came almost exactly a year ago. Even so, the sting is still there.
Tigers fans can remember most of Skubal’s Detroit run fondly and still root hard against him and the Dodgers the rest of the way. Go Braves, go Brewers or Padres, go whichever AL team they might see in the World Series.
In Other News...
Tigers Sent A Clear Message With Max Anderson's Delay
Max Andersons stay in Triple-A has said as much about the Tigers roster as it has about his bat. Even with a strong season and signs of real growth in plate discipline, Detroit has kept the infielder in the minors while sorting through a crowded middle-infield picture and weighing how his game fits next to players already in the mix, including Gleyber Torres, Hao-Yu Lee and John Peck.
For the Tigers, the delay looks less like hesitation than a deliberate choice to protect flexibility and keep Anderson on a development path that still has value for both sides. His limited defensive versatility gives the front office one more reason to wait, and the service-time angle only adds to the sense that Detroit is treating his eventual arrival as a matter of timing as much as talent. [Read more 🡒]
Tigers Face A Tough Josue Briceo Question With Torkelson Still In Place
The Tigers spent their end-of-season press conference making the same point in different ways: Spencer Torkelson and Colt Keith are still firmly in the plan. Scott Harris and AJ Hinch both reinforced that message as Detroit looks ahead, even while the organization also keeps one eye on Josue Briceo, whose bat has put him on the radar as a real part of the future.
Briceos timeline adds another layer to an infield picture that already has some traffic in it. Harris said the prospect will be part of the clubs plans in 2027, which is a long way from a clean roster decision and a reminder that the Tigers may eventually have to sort out how to fit another young bat into a group that already includes Torkelson and Keith. [Read more 🡒]
Tigers Already Face A Big Question About Two Key Names
The Tigers are already staring at one of those familiar offseason questions that can shape the next year before it even begins. Gleyber Torres and Jack Flaherty are both expected to reach free agency without extensions, putting two of the more notable names on Detroits roster into the same uncertain lane as the front office starts thinking beyond the current season.
For a club that has spent the postseason watching the rest of the league sort out its own October drama, the timing only adds to the intrigue. Detroit still has plenty of baseball left to absorb around the league, from managerial choices to fan reactions and other playoff developments, while John Peck is headed to the Arizona Fall League, but the bigger picture for the Tigers may come back to whether they can answer those contract questions before they become much harder ones. [Read more 🡒]