DETROIT – Tarik Skubal - the best pitcher in baseball. Dominant ace. Superhuman who can throw his fastball triple digits in the ninth inning. Maddux thrower. Two-time all-star. 2024 American League Cy Young and triple crown winner. 2025 AL Cy Young frontrunner.
So what can’t he do?
Recommended Videos
Drive in runs. That responsibility is on the offense.
On Wednesday, they did a great job of that. They put up nine runs on the Seattle Mariners after scoring only nine runs total in the first three games of the division series.
Spencer Torkelson got it all started with a single to lead off the fifth inning of game three, and everyone else followed suit.
“Hitting is contagious, and not hitting is also kind of contagious, too,” he commented after Wednesday’s game.
To Seattle’s credit - their pitching staff is one of the best in baseball. Hitting in the big leagues is hard enough, let alone in the postseason where the best teams are facing off.
But the Tigers must find a way to get it done to advance to the American League championship series after Friday’s game five.
“We know he’s [Tarik Skubal is] awesome, and he can do whatever he wants, but we have to help him,” Gleyber Torres told reporters.
We know they are perfectly capable of it because we’ve seen them do it all season long - that’s how they got to where they are. They just need to be on time and swing at good pitches.