Detroit Tigers ace Tarik Skubal hauled in MLB’s top hardware last season after a series of superlative performances.
Detroit Tigers lefthanded ace starter Tarik Skubal was crowned as the 2024 Cy Young Award winner for the American League following a fantastic campaign that saw him simply dominate Major League Baseball. It was the sixth time ever that a member of the Motor City Kitties earned the honor and the first since Max Scherzer brought home the hardware in 2013.
Skubal excelled out of the gates after Spring Training, earning wins in six of his first nine starts with a 1.80 ERA and 1.97 FIP over 55 innings. However, three of his four total losses came during the following six-game stretch, which saw him put up a 3.60 ERA and 4.00 FIP over 35 frames.
From June 25 on, Skubal was an absolute horse, throwing under six innings just thrice in 16 starts while posting nearly identical ERA and FIP of 2.29 and 2.27, respectively. While there was a bit of a lull during the dog days of the summer, he finished off the regular-season schedule strong. We then got two incredible postseason starts before Lane Thomas finally broke Skubal’s spell in Game 5 of the ALDS against Cleveland.
Take a look below at a breakdown of Skubal’s five best regular season outings in chronological order, based on the data included below.
Start 1: Opening Day
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Date: March 28
Opponent: at Chicago White Sox
Stat Line: 6 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 6 K
Summary:
Skubal foreshadowed his breakout season with a masterful — albeit slightly abbreviated — opening day appearance. He threw 89 pitches total out of which 59 were strikes while registering a 1.17 FIP and a 0.50 WHIP after his performance.
He allowed four balls in play at over 100 mph exit velocity — twice on changeups and once on his four-seamer and knuckle curve. The furthest traveled 330 feet off the change on the right-handed hitter Luis Robert Jr.’s pull side for an out.
It ultimately led to a 1-0 victory and a team shutout thanks to the trio of Shelby Miller, Andrew Chafin and Jason Foley, respectively, who clinches the win with nine-straight outs.
Start 11: Pirates walk the plank
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Date: May 29
Opponent: Pittsburgh Pirates
Stat Line: 7 IP, 3 H, 1 BB, 8 K
Summary:
Skubal dominated the Pirates in the first leg of a doubleheader that day and got some strong offensive support as well, starting with a three-spot in the bottom of the first to give him a buffer en route to an 8-0 win. He tossed 93 total pitches with 66 going for strikes and lowered his season ERA to 2.01 after the effort.
The southpaw allowed three balls in play at over 100 mph EV — all off the four-seamer — but again did not allow a ball in play longer than 330 feet, which this time came on a pulled pitch by Yasmani Grandal near the end of his outing.
Mason Englert pitched two perfect frames to wrap up the shutout, striking out two along the way.
Start 13: Brewers get skunked by Skubal
Photo by Duane Burleson/Getty Images
Date: June 9
Opponent: Milwaukee Brewers
Stat Line: 6 2⁄3 IP, 5 H, 1 (E)R, 2 BB, 10 K
Summary:
Skubal allowed a run in this one but his second double-digit strikeout effort was a bit better than the first. He threw 95 pitches with 65 landing inside the strike zone and kept the Brew Crew off the board until the seventh frame.
A triple by Bryce Turang off a 95.9 mph sinker drove Jackson Chourio, who had reached on an infield single with one out; Skubal finished the inning with a groundout and a 10-1 lead. The lefty allowed four balls in play with an EV over 100 mph, all four off fastballs (three four-seam, one sinker) as well as a trio going for singles, including Chourio’s run-scoring hit.
Will Vest and Joey Wentz combined for 1 1⁄3 innings of clean work but Englert coughed up a run closing things out in the ninth.
Start 18: Skubal sees Reds
Photo by Michael Zagaris/Oakland Athletics/Getty Images
Date: July 7
Opponent: at Cincinnati Reds
Stat Line: 7 IP, 3 H, 1 (E)R, 13 K
Summary:
Skubal logged his season high in strikeouts right around the midseason point against the Reds but did it in a rather efficient style using 93 pitches — 67 of which were strikes — in another game where the seventh-inning run bug bit him. Former Tiger Jeimer Candelario scored that one run after leading off the inning with a double and getting across the plate on a groundout.
Just two balls in play exceeded the 100 mph EV mark — an out on a slider that left the bat at 104.1 mph and a four-seamer that hit 110.0 on the radar gun, both of which were earlier in the game. Otherwise, Cincy’s hitters struggled to make solid contact and the furthest hit ball was 264 feet.
Vest came in for the eighth and pitched a clean inning with a K while Alex Faedo allowed a hit but struck one out in his scoreless ninth to give Detroit a 5-1 victory.
Start 31: A grande finale
Photo by Duane Burleson/Getty Images
Date: Sept. 24
Opponent: Tampa Bay Rays
Stat Line: 7 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 7 K
Summary:
Skubal neither cruised nor struggled during the second half of the season, but his best effort in the latter stretch came in his final appearance of the regular season against the Ray. He tossed yet another gem, breaking the 100-pitch mark with 103 and landing 71 of them for strikes while walking just one.
Once again, just two balls in play were logged with a greater than 100 mph EV, with the first by Yandy Díaz in the game’s opening at-bat off a sinker, resulting in a groundout; the second, another sinker that ended in a groundout in the fourth frame. Otherwise, hard contact was difficult for the Rays to achieve with no ball traveling further than 272 feet.
The two runs the Tigers scored in the fifth was enough for the 2-1 win, but Beau Briske had to make things interesting by surrendering a run en route to a two-inning save — his only clinched game of the season.
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