Best thing for Detroit Tigers, Tarik Skubal? Jim Duquette explains
On “Days of Roar,” former general manager Jim Duquette explains what the Detroit Tigers should do with Tarik Skubal in the 2025-26 MLB offseason.
LAS VEGAS — Some Detroit Tigers fans were upset with two-time American League Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal for his exit Oct. 10 in Game 5 of the ALDS against the Seattle Mariners, when he didn’t return after the sixth inning, following 99 pitches.
Skubal made 34 starts in the regular season and MLB playoffs in 2025, completing more than six innings 18 times and surpassing more than 99 pitches four times – but he couldn’t do either in the winner-take-all showdown.
He hears the noise.
“Trust me, I’ve seen a lot of the stuff that fans are disappointed or whatever,” Skubal said Wednesday, Nov. 12, after winning the 2025 AL Cy Young Award. “It’s just the way the game of baseball is. It’s just baseball. I’m going to go out there and compete and give it everything I had.”
The Tigers held a 2-1 lead when Skubal exited after six innings – only for the Mariners to tie it, 2-2, in the seventh inning, not long after manager A.J. Hinch removed the best pitcher in baseball. The Tigers ultimately lost, 3-2, in 15 innings, ending their season.
Would the result have been different if Skubal had returned for the seventh inning?
“I knew my outing was kind of coming to a close there,” Skubal said. “Hindsight is 20/20, right? If we could write a perfect script, we would obviously go do that, but it’s the game of baseball.”
After Game 5, Hinch explained that the decision for Skubal to exit after six innings was mutual – a detail that has led some fans to believe Skubal pulled himself from the game.
They settled on the plan after the fifth inning.
“Easy decision,” Hinch said after Game 5. “After the fifth [inning], I checked in on him – how he was doing physically and emotionally. We both knew that he had one [inning] left. He emptied his tank and was emotional coming off the mound, and I think that signals exactly where we were in the game. He gave us everything he could.”
One month later, Skubal supported Hinch for the way everything happened.
“That was the decision that was made,” Skubal said, “and me and A.J. are always on the same page. I really respect everything that he does. He’s got a plan for everything.”
To finish his start, Skubal retired 14 batters in a row – striking out 10 of them, including a stretch of seven in a row to set a postseason record. His final batter, Cal Raleigh, went down swinging on three fastballs in a row: 99.7 mph, 99.1 mph and 100.9 mph.
The 28-year-old allowed one run on two hits and zero walks with 13 strikeouts over six innings, throwing 99 pitches. Due up for the Mariners in the seventh inning: Julio RodrÃguez, Jorge Polanco and Eugenio Suárez – a pair of All-Stars sandwiched around a familiar foe in Polanco.
Polanco owns a .269 batting average with a .692 OPS in 26 plate appearances against Skubal in the regular season. More notably, he hit two solo home runs off Skubal in Game 2 of the ALDS.
“Just the way the game was going, and obviously, the way the at-bats had gone with Polanco – even in Game 5, he hit a foul homer,” Skubal said, “so I just don’t think that matchup was going to be in the cards that night.”
[ MUST LISTEN: Make “Days of Roar” your go-to Tigers podcast, available anywhere you listen to podcasts (Apple, Spotify) ]
Rather than another round of Skubal, Hinch turned to right-handed reliever Kyle Finnegan – acquired from the Washington Nationals at the July 31 trade deadline – in the seventh inning.
Polanco worked a six-pitch walk, setting up Josh Naylor‘s two-out single to put runners on first and second. Left-handed reliever Tyler Holton replaced Finnegan, prompting Mariners manager Dan Wilson to counter with switch-hitter Leo Rivas.
Rivas – batting right-handed to gain the platoon advantage – tied the game, 2-2, with an RBI single off Holton’s second-pitch changeup, located middle-middle in the strike zone.
“We have nine more outs,” Skubal said. “I trust our guys in the bullpen 10 times out of 10 to end the game like that. Obviously, it ends up going 15 innings. It was one of the best playoff games in the history of a win-or-go-home game. We came out on the wrong side of that.”
And thus the Skubal-led Tigers were eliminated in Game 5 of the ALDS for the second straight year.
“I would love to throw 300 pitches every time out,” Skubal said. “I just don’t know if that’s realistic, especially in that setting and with the lead. … I think everybody competed, and we left it all out there, including myself. As an athlete, that’s all you really can do.”
Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him @EvanPetzold.
Listen to our weekly Tigers show “Days of Roar” every Monday afternoon during the season and Tuesday afternoon during the offseason on Apple, Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts.