Tarik Skubal's disappointing NLCS showing is drudging up less-than-fond Tigers memories

The Brewers-Dodgers NLCS is a pretty clear-cut example of good vs. evil. The Brewers were the winningest team in baseball on a payroll of less than $150 million; the Dodgers' four highest-paid players this season (minus Shohei Ohtani) are making more than that.

As if Tigers fans needed any more reason to dislike LA, Tarik Skubal being dealt there at the deadline put us over the edge. It felt inevitable at a certain point, but there was still lingering hope, up until the last second, that it wouldn't become real.

Skubal got the ball in Game 1 of the NLDS against the Braves, and then again in Game 1 of the NLCS against the Brewers. Skubal vs. Jacob Misiorowski was supposed to be the primetime duel of the year ... but things didn't really work out that way.

The Dodgers chased Misiorowski out after just 4 1/3 innings and forcing him to throw 94 pitches. Skubal went a little longer, making it through five, but he also gave up two runs to Miz's one. It was the shortest postseason outing of Skubal's career.

Tigers fans aren't terribly surprised.

Tarik Skubal's five-inning NLCS appearance conjures up bad memories of the Tigers' 2025 ALDS

Skubal going just six innings against the Mariners in Game 5 of last year's ALDS will always be a touchy subject for Tigers fans, even for those of us who still think of his time in Detroit fondly overall. The responses after each appearance don't help much, either. Compare and contrast Skubal's "That's just baseball," answer to being pulled after six innings in an elimination game to, "I didn't do my job," after the first of a five-game series.

The two runs Skubal surrendered — a solo homer for Brice Turang and an RBI single for Luis Lara — were all Milwaukee needed to win the game. Even after getting Misiorowski out of the game as early as they did, LA left six men on base after he was pulled.

In all likelihood, this isn't going to be a case of Brewers-in-four. Skubal will probably get the opportunity to take the ball again in a potential Game 5 and prove that he should make the $400 million he's expected to in free agency.

But he has an uphill battle. It's hard sharing a rotation with Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who has already set up a very good argument for himself as the best postseason starter of all time. Skubal also has a less-than-positive reputation for himself in this area that Tigers fans don't see him crawling out of anytime soon.

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