Tigers stick it to ESPN, MLB as Sunday Night Baseball makes overdue return to Detroit

While the Detroit Tigers haven't been particularly awesome before the last season and a half, you would think that ESPN and MLB would have found a way to get the Tigers a home game on Sunday Night Baseball at least once since 2017. However, the wait was indeed that long before this past Sunday and it is safe to say that Detroit made the most of the opportunity.

In recent years, Sunday Night Baseball has focused primarily on baseball's biggest markets and World Series contenders, and the Tigers just haven't fit that mold. Unfortunately, by the time that the Tigers made their insane run last season, the Sunday Night Baseball schedule had already been set.

With ESPN no longer hosting Sunday Night Baseball after 2025, the Tigers' dominant win over the Twins likely had the network full of regret for 2026.

Tarik Skubal just showcased to the world what they have been missing out on with this Tigers team

As is often the case when he starts, Tarik Skubal was the star of the show on Sunday. Skubal gave up just one hit and one walk while striking out 13 batters across seven scoreless innings. Baseball fans in general knew that he was very good given that he won the Cy Young last year, but many had not seen him do his thing live, and boy did he deliver.

More importantly, though, is that baseball fans across the country got to see how fun the Tigers are as a team and that their playoff run in 2024 was not a fluke. Even on a night where Minnesota was stingy, both Kerry Carpenter and Riley Greene went yard and Detroit consistently put pressure on the Twins, who were some pretty embarrassing at-bats against Skubal. Skubal's gem was followed by Tommy Kahnle and Will Vest locking things down in the late innings. From beginning to end, this was Tigers baseball at it's finest.

But perhaps even more notable was the crowd at Comerica Park. It was a sold out crowd, and the Tigers ended up selling additional standing room only tickets because the demand was so high. The folks in Detroit made the most of Sunday Night Baseball returning to their city probably for two reasons: to support their team after the long hiatus, and to show MLB they're ready to return to the spotlight for good.

With Detroit being tied for the best record in baseball at the moment, don't be surprised if future Tigers games in 2025 get flexed into the Sunday Night Baseball slot. And as it pertains to 2026? Well, that'll be up to NBC.

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