Tarik Skubal’s heartwarming grand tour of Detroit has Tigers fans questioning motive

Tarik Skubal is making it really obvious that he loves Detroit. He told everyone exactly where his loyalties lie at the GM Meetings, in the days leading up to his second Cy Young win. He posted a video of Comerica Park captioned "missing home" on Instagram. And, this past weekend, he ran the gauntlet of Michigan sports.

The guy was everywhere. On Saturday, he showed up to do the t-shirt toss at a Michigan State basketball game, then went down to see the Pistons on the same day. On Sunday it was a Red Wings game and then a Lions game, and he was greeted with thunderous applause everywhere he went.

It was objectively nice. No doubt Skubal really does love Detroit, and there's really no doubt that Detroit loves him right back.

But so many public appearances in the span of 48 hours warrants a little bit of side-eye, and Tigers fans are skeptical. None of us really need to be reminded, but Skubal's a free agent after the 2026 season and isn't out of the woods in terms of an offseason trade.

There's a cynic's version of this: Skubal and Scott Boras are endearing him even more to Detroit fans to make Chris Ilitch look like an even bigger tightwad if the Tigers fail to extend him or give him a competitive offer in free agency or, heaven forbid, trade him this offseason. The optimist's version: Skubal just really likes sports and really likes Detroit.

Tarik Skubal's marathon appearances at Detroit sports events were sweet but probably calculated

Both things could easily be true — he made similar appearances last offseason — but it's hard for anyone to believe that there were completely pure intentions here. Anyway, intentional or not, this puts massive pressure on Ilitch and the Tigers' front office. Skubal continues to ingratiate himself with Detroiters and is already a figurehead of Michigan sports.

For his part, Skubal remained tight-lipped about his free agency. Michigan State basketball coach Greg Kampe said he did ask about whether or not Skubal would staying with the Tigers, but Skubal just said, "I'm under contract for one more year."

Tom Izzo added, "I told my guys to hug and kiss him to keep him around."

You hear that, Chris Ilitch? Even Tom Izzo is begging you to keep Skubal around.

Skubal is going to have a lot more pull in less than a calendar year's time — more pull than any free agent on the market, really — but he's exercising some soft power right now, as he should. Fans can yell at Ilitch all they want, but it's different when this kind of public pressure is coming directly from the man himself.