Tigers reporting makes stunning reversal on Tarik Skubal as fan panic sets in

Jon Heyman had Tigers fans panicking on Monday afternoon, when he reported that Tarik Skubal was being scratched from his start against the Red Sox tonight as a precautionary move. Less than 20 minutes later, Cody Stavenhagen of The Athletic countered that there was nothing precautionary about it.

Skubal is going onto the IL and will be undergoing surgery to remove loose bodies in his elbow.

Stavenhagen added that Ty Madden is being called up to take his place, and the Tigers are putting Tyler Holton on the mound for their series opener against the Red Sox for another bullpen game.

There's no timeline yet, but two-to-three months is typical for these kinds of procedures. AJ Hinch said "Skubal's arm locked up again during the game last night," but there was hope that this would be an "easy process and procedure."

They can sunnyside this all they want, but there's no consolation for losing Skubal for any amount of time. Detroit's rotation is already missing Casey Mize and has a wild underperformer in Jack Flaherty. They've been playing around .500 baseball through their first 35 games and have failed to live up to expectations right out the gate. And now they've lost their ace.

Tarik Skubal going onto Tigers IL after misleading initial reporting

So the Tigers are down to three starters, one of whom is far from trustworthy, and a shaky bullpen. Madden has looked entirely middling in Triple-A; his last time out, he managed just 2 2/3 innings and gave up three runs on five hits and two walks.

The next few months without Skubal will be the true test of what this Tigers team can do in a world without Skubal. Fans were already bracing ourselves to lose him after this season, but now the timeline has moved up.

Two or three months isn't forever, but it's still a lot of time for the Guardians to surge and for the Tigers' pitching to collapse and let Cleveland set themselves apart in what has been a neck-and-neck race for first place over the last few weeks.

The margin for error has now shrunk down to almost nothing. The bullpen needs to be better; the offense needs to be more consistent. It's time for the Tigers to prove that they can still be a contender without their two-time Cy Young winner.

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