Tigers fans won't like Ken Rosenthal's assessment of Detroit's playoff pitching staff

If MLB insider Ken Rosenthal was hoping to reach a captive audience of Detroit Tigers fans with his latest column for The Athletic (subscription required), perhaps he should have worded the opening line a bit differently.

"If you’re a Detroit Tigers fan worrying about what the postseason rotation will look like beyond Tarik Skubal, relax," Rosenthal wrote. "It’s not that big a deal."

Telling fans how to feel, right off the jump? That usually goes over well. But even beyond the dismissive and condescending tone, there's more to critique about Rosenthal's statement.

MLB insider Ken Rosenthal has tone deaf assessment of Tigers’ playoff pitching staff

Rosenthal went on to argue that Tigers manager AJ Hinch's recent strategy with his pitching staff – yanking starters early and relying on "pitching chaos" in the bullpen – downplayed the importance of individual performances by Jack Flaherty, Charlie Morton and Casey Mize behind Skubal in the Tigers' rotation.

"Beyond aces like Skubal, the performances of starting pitchers in the postseason means only so much," Rosenthal wrote. "The quality of the staff as a whole is what matters most."

That's not entirely correct – and it oversimplifies how postseason pitching value works.

Historically, teams with dominant frontline starters lean heavily on them to carry October runs. In the playoffs, rotations shorten and off days are more frequent, so a true ace like Skubal can start multiple games in a series (Games 1 and 5 in a Division Series, for example). So, Rosenthal is correct in pointing out that his impact is disproportionately large compared to the regular season.

But while overall quality matters – especially bullpen depth and strong No. 2-3 starters, since a team can't ride one arm the entire way – saying that the quality of the staff as a whole is what matters most downplays the reality that postseason games often turn on ace-level performances. Every win is magnified.

A great ace allows a manager to shorten the game (fewer innings for weaker relievers), while a merely “solid across the board” staff may lack that game-changing anchor. So, the more accurate framing would be: Both an ace and quality depth matter, but in October, elite aces often have an outsized impact compared to the regular season, where staff balance is more important.

Obviously, Skubal is central to the Tigers' postseason pitching plans. But matchups, high-leverage innings, and bullpen usage can shift strategy. The individual performances of each pitcher on the Tigers' staff – not just Skubal – do matter, especially in the postseason, and it's not like the Tigers have been without their bullpen issues this year. Hinch has done great work to navigate them, but there will be little room for error in October.

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