Tarik Skubal has accomplished just about everything a pitcher would want to through his first seven big-league seasons. He's won a pair of Cy Young awards, he's made two All-Star appearances, he's won two ERA titles and he even won the AL pitching Triple Crown in 2024. There're some boxes he'd like to check with the Los Angeles Dodgers, though, and one of them will be checked off on Saturday.
No, Saturday won't mark Skubal's first World Series start, but he is set to make his first-ever postseason start as a home player. That's right: despite all he did in Detroit, he never once made a postseason appearance, let alone start, at Comerica Park. That doesn't seem right, but it's the truth, and one that should sting for Detroit Tigers fans.
Tarik Skubal is already accomplishing something he never has with Dodgers before throwing a playoff pitch for L.A.
What makes this statistic even more bizarre is that he made six postseason appearances, all starts, with the Tigers. All six of these starts took place in the 2024 and 2025 seasons, yet not a single one occurred in Detroit. How is that even possible?
What's particularly impressive about those outings is that Skubal was never fazed. He pitched to a 2.05 ERA in those outings, going six innings or more each time and allowing two runs or fewer in five of those six starts. Skubal had the Tigers in position to win playoff games nearly every time he took the mound despite having crowds be fully against him. This is something he's excited to see change on Saturday.
Tarik Skubal on pitching in a home playoff game for first time in his career:
— Hazel Mae (@thehazelmae) October 2, 2026
“I'm excited for the opportunity to throw in front of the fans. Usually, when I walk out onto the field in a playoff game, it’s usually received with a lot of boos.”#Dodgers pic.twitter.com/3Fk6wE8bQt
Skubal made it a point to say how excited he is to start a postseason game in front of a crowd that'll be rooting for him. The whole experience of Skubal in L.A. stings for a Tigers fan base that did nothing but love him for part of seven years, but watching Skubal make his home playoff debut for the Dodgers, and not the Tigers, has to really hurt.
Tarik Skubal's home postseason debut coming with the Dodgers is another reminder of what could've been
He only spent part of seven years in Detroit, but Skubal is one of the greatest pitchers in Tigers history. To put into perspective how great he was, Skubal won a pair of Cy Youngs in Detroit. The franchise as a whole has a total of seven Cy Young awards, meaning Skubal is responsible for roughly a third of those. He's one of two pitchers to win more than one Cy Young award in Detroit, with Denny McLain being the other in the late 1960s. Not even Justin Verlander won two Cy Youngs in Detroit.
Skubal was that good, and pitched for playoff teams in 2024 and 2025, yet somehow never got a chance to start a game at Comerica Park. Skubal had all these great memories in Detroit, but nothing compares to watching a franchise icon take the ball in the postseason in front of a rowdy home crowd. Tigers fans got to experience it on numerous occasions with Verlander, even in the 2006 World Series.
His run in Detroit will be remembered forever, but it feels incomplete. He might not have the accolades with the Dodgers as he did with Detroit, but in just one postseason start with L.A., he'll have accomplished something he never did with the Tigers. Detroit fans can only hope the list doesn't go far beyond his first home playoff start, as watching Skubal pitch in, and potentially win a World Series with the Dodgers would be an even tougher pill to swallow.
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