LAKELAND, Fla. — Detroit Tigers manager A.J. Hinch may have let the cat out of the bag a little early.
Major League Baseball sometimes likes to coordinate the announcement of Opening Day starters with a timed release later in spring.
But there was no way Hinch could dodge the question with a straight face on the first day of spring training, so he came right out and said it: Ace left-hander Tarik Skubal will be the starting pitcher for the Tigers when they open the season on March 26 at San Diego against the Padres.
It would be Skubal’s third consecutive Opening Day start, the longest streak since Justin Verlander started seven consecutive Opening Days from 2008-2014.
Verlander is now Skubal’s teammate, having signed a one-year deal with the Tigers just before the start of camp.
Skubal opened the 2024 season by leading the Tigers to a 1-0 win in Chicago against the White Sox. He lost last year’s opener 5-4 to the Dodgers in Los Angeles.
Skubal has won the last two American League Cy Young Awards, the first pitcher to claim back-to-back honors since Jacob deGrom (2018-19), and the first in the AL since Pedro Martinez (1999-2000).
Skubal, 29, went 13-6 with an AL-best 2.21 ERA. He struck out a career-high 241 batters in 195 1/3 innings, also a career high, then added three dominant playoff starts in October.
Since returning from flexor tendon surgery in 2023, Skubal has been one of the most dominant pitchers of the modern era, going 38-13 with a 2.39 ERA over 77 starts and 467 innings and striking out 571.
TIGERS’ OPENING DAY STARTERS SINCE 2000
2024-26: Tarik Skubal
2022-23: Eduardo Rodriguez
2020-21: Matthew Boyd
2018-19: Jordan Zimmermann
2016-17: Justin Verlander
2015: David Price
2008-2014: Justin Verlander
2007: Jeremy Bonderman
2006: Kenny Rogers
2005: Jeremy Bonderman
2004: Jason Johnson
2003: Mike Maroth
2001-02: Jeff Weaver
2000: Hideo Nomo