Tigers rotation just pulled off a feat last seen in Detroit’s title-winning season

The Detroit Tigers are off to a 21-13 start that leads the American League and is their best in franchise history, thanks in large part to their elite pitching staff.

What first looked like a top-heavy starting rotation headlined by reigning American League Cy Young Award winner Tarik Skubal and 2024 World Series champion Jack Flaherty has, somewhat surprisingly, been one of the deepest rotations in baseball through the first month-plus of the 2025 campaign.

Detroit's entire pitching staff, both the starting rotation and the bullpen, ranks No. 4 in the Majors with a 3.17 ERA. But the starters in particular dominated during the month of April, combining to post a 2.80 ERA – the team's best mark in the month since 1984 (2.45 ERA).

If the year 1984 rings a bell for Tigers fans, that's because it was the last year in which Detroit won the World Series. The red-hot Tigers, who had won 104 games in the regular season, took down the San Diego Padres in five games to earn their fourth title behind the likes of Alan Trammell, Kirk Gibson and Jack Morris.

Tigers starting rotation combines for best ERA in over four decades

Naturally, Skubal leads the Tigers' rotation with a 2.21 ERA and 48 strikeouts in 40 2/3 innings pitched. He recently became the third starting pitcher in franchise history to have an outing with zero runs allowed, zero walks, and 11 or more strikeouts in Detroit's 7-0 win over the Baltimore Orioles on April 27.

Casey Mize joins Skubal as the only other Tigers starter with a sub-3.00 ERA. Mize has a 2.70 ERA through 36 2/3 innings, and he is starting to look like every bit of the dominant pitcher the Tigers believed he was when they selected him No. 1 overall in the 2018 MLB draft.

Rookie Jackson Jobe has an impressive 3.38 ERA with 18 strikeouts through 24 innings. Flaherty carries a 3.79 ERA across 38 innings with 46 strikeouts, just two fewer than Skubal. Including right-hander Reese Olson, who has posted a 3.55 ERA through 33 innings, every member of the Tigers' starting rotation has an ERA under 4.00 entering May.

They're starting to show some cracks, but if they can stay strong, we're looking at a very special group for 2025.

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