Dodgers better hope for no repeats of Tarik Skubal's Tigers postseason debacle

Tigers fans will continue to be split on Tarik Skubal's legacy in Detroit, but there's one thing a lot of us can agree on: leaving Game 5 of the 2025 ALDS was pretty inexcusable.

At first blush, it was easy enough to sympathize with him. He'd thrown 99 pitches through six innings, and one man doesn't make a team. The Tigers' offense and bullpen failed them, and maybe it would've done them more harm than good to keep Skubal in the game if he was truly on his last legs. Maybe it was more of AJ Hinch's decision to take him out.

But every new development in the aftermath only made Tigers fans more and more sour on the situation. After that agonizing game, Skubal joked that he'd wondered if he could reenter in late innings. Fans' answer? Maybe you shouldn't have left so early in the first place, dude.

It got even worse when Skubal was notably self-critical after a six-inning, regular season start for the Dodgers shortly after the trade. The Tigers would've loved to see that kind of introspection from their ace after a postseason game rather than the shrug and "That's just baseball" response they got.

Skubal is reportedly set to be named the Dodgers' NLDS Game 1 starter. They'd better hope they don't get the version of Skubal the Tigers got in 2025.

Dodgers set to name Tarik Skubal NLDS Game 1 starter, but Tigers wounds are still fresh

Of course, it's incredibly likely that they don't. Skubal's in a walk year, and replicating that same kind of cavalier attitude about pitching in the pursuit of a championship wouldn't help him as a free agent.

But doesn't that kind of make it worse? That Skubal might only be ready to fully give it his all to set himself up to make a bigger buck in a few months' time, and only for one of the few teams that has the financial ability to keep him? The trade deadline was two months ago to the day, the Tigers' last stand in the ALDS almost exactly a year ago, but it all still stings.

Tigers fans can still think about the majority of Skubal's tenure in Detroit fondly while rooting heartily against him and the Dodgers throughout the duration of their postseason run. Go Braves, go Brewers or Padres, go whichever AL team they might see in the World Series.

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