Tarik Skubal silences all the Tigers doubters with stern postgame comments

When Detroit Tigers manager AJ Hinch said everyone is starting 0-0 after his team backed into the playoffs, he might have technically been right, but it did little to silence the doubters who knew the odds of a Tigers' bounce-back weren't great.

The good news, though, was that Detroit was able to line everything up to give itself the best possible chance of success. They ended up not needing ace Tarik Skubal to go on the season's final game, allowing them to save the reigning AL Cy Young winner for Game 1 in Cleveland.

That turned out to be the best-case scenario for Detroit, as Skubal might have turned in his most dominant performance of the year, throwing a season-high 107 pitches over 7 2/3 innings and notching a career-high 14 strikeouts in the 2-1 victory.

Skubal sliced and diced the Guardians' lineup, generating a 46.4% whiff-rate with a 99.1 average fastball velocity, and allowing an anemic 83.7 MPH average exit velocity.

After the game, he had a clear message for those who had lost faith or doubted the Tigers' chances under the brightest lights.

Tarik Skubal lets the haters know the past is irrelevant as the Tigers take a 1-0 series lead

Speaking after the game, Skubal echoed Hinch's comments from the previous week, saying, “It doesn't really matter how we got here. .. we're up 1-0 in a best of 3.”

Skubal's own performance speaks to his point that how you got there is irrelevant once you have your ticket punched to the big dance. The superstar lefty last took the mound against this very same Guardians club on September 23, suffering a 5-2 defeat that brought Cleveland even with Detroit in the AL Central, completing the historic collapse.

Things unraveled for Skubal during the sixth inning of that game when two bunts, the second of which forced an error from Skubal, who attempted an ill-fated between-the-legs scoop to get the speedy Angel Martinez, set the scene for an unraveling.

The inning would also feature an infield single, a wild pitch, a balk, and an RBI-groundout that resulted in the Guardians taking a 3-2 lead without a single ball leaving the infield. The Tigers never recovered.

Fast forward to Game 1 of the ALWCS, and Skubal faced a similar nightmare. In the bottom of the fourth, he began the inning by giving up an infield single to the pesky Martinez and then got himself in a pickle, walking Jose Ramirez to give Cleveland runners on first and second with no outs.

Skubal buckled down, striking out the next two before Gabriel Arias would hit a chopper back up the middle that Skubal had trouble handling, leading Martinez to dash home ahead of the pitcher's throw.

It seemed like deja vu all over again, especially when the next batter, Brayan Rocchio, laid down a bunt. Fortunately, Skubal was able to handle it and work out of the oddly familiar jam.

Overcoming the same bizarre scenario that felled him and the Tigers just last week against the same opponent just serves to underscore Skubal's point. What happened before no longer matters. The only thing that counts is how Detroit handles business from here on out. If Game 1 is any indication, they are not a team to be underestimated.