Did the Tigers Fail With Tarik Skubal?

The question is simple: Did the Detroit Tigers fail while Tarik Skubal donned the Old English D?

The answer, though, may not be as simple as you may think.

I’m not here to convince you whether they did or didn’t, much like I would never try to convince you who the Asscrack Bandit is.

But I will say my side of the story.

Before I dive into it, I want to make one thing clear: The Tigers did the right thing by trading Skubal.

It needed to happen. The deal was never going to get done, and even with distant rumors of potentially reuniting Skubal and Detroit, the deal was never going to happen.

Detroit got what it could, pulled the trigger early, and that still doesn’t bother me. The Dodgers were going to move on and leave us with less somewhere else.

Or at least that’s what I’m telling myself.

As much hate as Scott Harris receives, trading Skubal was the correct decision, as painful as it was.

However, the Tigers did have Skubal in his prime, along with two teams that were good enough to make some noise.

And they did.

Detroit made the postseason in consecutive seasons, with Skubal playing a massive role in both.

The first was the most miraculous run of the two in 2024.

Detroit legitimately leaned on the back of Skubal every five days while trying to piece together a Frankenstein’s monster of a pitching staff for the other four.

Somehow, it worked.

The Tigers went from having a 0.2% chance of making the playoffs to actually making the playoffs.

Detroit then met the skipper’s old team, the Houston Astros, where A.J. Hinch had been fired following the cheating scandal that rocked the baseball world.

Hinch and the Tigers took care of business in the Wild Card round.

Then came Cleveland.

The Tigers’ magical season came crashing to a halt against their division rival in the ALDS. Detroit folded under the pressure, but it was still a moral victory.

A team that wasn’t projected to make the playoffs had done the impossible and made a name for itself.

The following year, the Tigers came out of the gate on a warpath.

Then they quickly folded late in the season, surrendering the division lead to Cleveland.

And who did they meet in the Wild Card round?

Cleveland.

This time, Detroit was finally able to slay the beast.

From there, Detroit went on to play Seattle in the ALDS, where Skubal struck out 22 batters across two starts and finished with a 2.08 ERA.

His record?

0-0.

Detroit struggled offensively and ultimately fell in extra innings in the series-deciding game.

And that was it.

The writing was on the wall.

The offseason proved Detroit had no realistic chance of re-signing Skubal, so the Tigers spent elsewhere, bringing in Framber Valdez and Justin Verlander.

Detroit had one year with Skubal and a team built to win a championship.

I would count 2024 as a championship-caliber opportunity, too, but for what it was: a miraculous season that went as far as it probably ever could have.

But in 2025, at the trade deadline, the Tigers knew that in just one year they would not be retaining the best pitcher in baseball.

Scott Harris knew it.

Chris Ilitch knew it.

The fans didn’t necessarily look that far ahead yet, but those who did knew it.

And instead of making one final push with the best pitcher in baseball, the Tigers traded for cast-off bullpen arms that ultimately became part of the team’s demise, alongside an offense that was never properly addressed.

That’s where my problem lies.

The Tigers front office does everything it can to avoid the correct questions.

And because of that, yes, I believe the Tigers absolutely failed with Skubal on the roster.

Not because they traded him.

They failed because they had one of the best pitchers in baseball, two legitimate opportunities to make a deep postseason run, and a finite amount of time to build a championship team around him.

The trade was right.

The failure was what came before it.

Do you agree?