Tarik Skubal's Fantastic 2024 Has Set the Tone for the Young Tigers
Clayton Kershaw’s 2011, Randy Johnson’s 2002, Pedro Martinez’ 1999, and Tarik Skubal’s 2024 all have one thing in common: the pitching triple crown. Although not quite as rare as the hitting triple crown (home runs, batting avg, RBI’s), the pitching triple crown is just as impressive and has been claimed by countless future and current Hall of Famers. In order to win the pitching triple crown, a single player has to lead their league in ERA, wins, and strikeouts. This is what Tarik Skubal Achieved in 2024, all while leading his Tigers to their first playoff win since 2013.
Somehow, Skubal was not the only one to achieve this impressive feat in 2024, as the Braves Chris Sale completed the triple crown for the National League. Both Sale and his newfound Atlanta Braves training-medical staff are to thank for his masterful resurgence. Sale’s last season where he started at least 25 games was all the way back in 2019, where he was shaky on a middling Red Sox team that seemed to struggle from a World Series hangover from the year prior. Since this 2019 season where he held a 4.40 ERA and won only six games, Sale never looked like the same guy as his early White Sox success, his second-place Cy Young campaign in 2017, or his fantastic season as the Red Sox championship ace in 2018. Most of this can be chalked up to unfortunate injuries or disappointing circumstances for a Red Sox team that hasn't been wildly competitive in Sale’s few healthy stints. Still, because of his lack of real recent results, when Sale went on the market as a free agent before the 2024 season, the demand for the once dominant lefty was somewhat low. In need of high-end pitching depth, the Atlanta Braves took a flier on the aging lefty with a 2-year, $38 million contract that would prove to be fantastic value for an endlessly talented pitcher that just needed to stay healthy.
Braves Starting Pitcher Chris Sale Deals During Stellar 2024 Campaign
Enough about Sale though; the 27-year-old Tarik Skubal entered 2024 as exciting yet still widely unknown. As a former 9th round pick, Skubal was never heralded as the next big thing for Detroit, yet he was fantastic in his brief 2023 campaign after finding a way to come back stronger after his late 2022 flexor tendon surgery that has recently threatened the careers of talented pitchers like Dustin May and Daniel Bard. Skubal took his bounceback momentum into 2024 as he continued to establish his much-improved changeup into his already lethal repertoire. In Skubal’s inconsistent early time in the big leagues, he threw his changeup about 13%* of the time while mostly relying on his four-seam fastball (42.8%) and slider (22.8%). Fast forward to 2024, where Skubal’s Cy Young campaign has been majorly supported by his increasingly effective changeup use (thrown 27.2% of the time). In 2024, Skubal’s changeup claimed a wild 82 strikeouts while hitters batted .216 and whiffed at the changeup over 46% of the time. When paired with the lefty’s 97-mph fastball and sinker, Skubal’s 2024 success is by no means a surprise.
What was a surprise in 2024 was the Detroit Tigers resurgence as a real playoff threat. The 86-win Tigers snuck in the playoffs after a late surge that propelled them over the Minnesota Twins and secured a wild-card playoff date in Houston. Who else but Tarik Skubal took the hill in his playoff debut for game one versus the Astros, where he shoved the seemingly directionless Houston batters and struck out six batters in his six innings and 88 pitches of zero-run ball. The Tigers finished the game with a 3-1 win but faced an obvious challenge in game 2: they had nobody else. “Nobody” may be an overstatement, but a quick look around at the Tigers staff and you’ll see a struggling Kenta Maeda, a young and inconsistent Casey Mize, and a gaping hole where the excellent Jack Flaherty once stood before being sold to the Dodgers in a midseason deal where the Tigers sold at the deadline.
Tarik Skubal Mid-Windup During Wildcard Game 1 in Houston
So how did the Tigers even get to this point? Yes, they were sellers at the deadline, but their playoff push with only two real starters (Tarik Skubal and Reese Olson) was fueled by a bullpen that has been masterfully managed by manager A.J. Hinch. Hinch, who was formerly shamed out of his World Series winning Houston Astros job after the infamous cheating scandal arose, has sneakily done a fantastic job with an otherwise underwhelming Tigers roster. Bullpen names like Tyler Holton, Will Vest, Beau Brieske, and Jason Foley have consistently given Hinch and the Tigers quality innings whenever they need it most. This ragtag underdog mentality paired with a real connection with the city of Detroit has given them the nickname the ‘gritty tigs.’ Hinch commented on the name to the Detroit Free Press after clinching their playoff spot, “I mean, our city's built on grit,” Hinch told reporters Wednesday in Houston. “I mean, that's what it is. And, you know, I remember saying that I wanted to have a team that the city was proud of. I think the city is pretty proud of what we're doing and how we're doing it, and the fight that this team shows, and we get to advance.”
The Gritty Tigs went on to beat the Astros in two games with massive help from the aforementioned deep bullpen and now head to Cleveland for a date with their AL Central rivals for a chance to play in the NLCS. No matter how Skubal continues to perform in the Tigers continued playoff campaign, his historic 2024 Triple Crown/Cy Young showing will go down in Tigers history with the likes of Justin Verlander and Jack Morris as one of the greatest in their history.
*All stats come from Baseball Reference and Baseball Savant
