Tarik Skubal was the only member of Team USA to dodge freaky WBC Opening Day curse

As (most) MLB teams opened their seasons all over the country on Thursday, fans couldn't help but notice a strange phenomenon playing out across the league.

Aaron Judge went 0-for-5 at the plate with four strikeouts. Bryce Harper was 0-for-4 with two Ks. Logan Webb gave up seven runs (six earned) to the Yankees. Matthew Boyd gave up six in just 3 2/3 innings. Paul Skenes couldn't even get through a full inning of work after giving up five runs (with a little help from his defense).

The one thing all of these guys have in common? They're fresh off of Team USA's championship loss at the World Baseball Classic.

And the one face of that team who didn't seemed touched by that curse at all? Tarik Skubal.

After Skenes' blowup against the Mets, more superstitious Tigers fans might have been worried that whatever had infected the rest of Team USA was coming for Detroit's ace next.

But Skubal cruised. He pitched six innings in his season debut, only giving up three hits and one unearned run while striking out six batters. Kevin McGonigle breathed life into the Tigers' offense, and we had ourselves an Opening Day dub.

Tarik Skubal cruises through Tigers Opening Day start while USA teammates crumble

This wouldn't be a thing if it weren't for the magnitude of Team USA's awfulness. Judge — the captain — is the reigning AL MVP, Skenes is the reigning NL Cy Young winner, Webb placed fourth in Cy voting last year. And every single one of them looked lost out there.

So we can all now agree that it was a good thing for Skubal to leave, right?

Boyd only pitched one start in the WBC, and in a pool play game, just like Skubal — but he still wasn't exempt from whatever it was that came over these guys on Wednesday and Thursday. Boyd, like Skubal, quietly returned to the Cubs after his start, but unlike Skubal, he didn't get much flack.

Skubal put the WBC and the media firestorm he was mostly responsible for creating behind him. Tigers fans were more than happy to follow his lead. But it stills gives us a little bit of quiet satisfaction that all of the guys who (through no direct fault of their own) made Skubal's departure look bad are the ones who really paid for it on Opening Day, while Skubal just did his job.