Tarik Skubal gets harsh reprimand from Team USA fans despite strong outing at WBC

Tarik Skubal suited up for Team USA for the World Baseball Classic, but only long enough to imitate a pitcher making a rehab start in the minors. The Detroit Tigers ace started Saturday's game against Great Britain. He gave up a first-swing home run, clamped down the Brits for nine quick outs and then stepped off the mound after just 41 pitches of work.

We were all well aware Skubal would be making just one start for Team USA at the WBC. Still, the actual outing left a lot of baseball fans feeling a certain type of way. That was it? What was the point?

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Tarik Skubal's World Baseball Classic cameo was beyond underwhelming

Maybe it would have felt different if Skubal hadn't given up a home run to Nate Eaton with his first pitch. The Red Sox minor leaguer took Skubal 390 feet to open the scoring.

Despite the rough start, Skubal showed exactly why he's a Cy Young Award winner. He bounced back by dispatching the next six batters on just 21 pitches. He looked good. At the same time, him looking good didn't feel all that great.

Pitching three innings in a pool stage game doesn't do much for Team USA. Fans want to see the Americans on top of the world and Skubal could help them get there if he stuck around for the whole tournament. The fact that he's flying back home so quickly just made the whole affair feel almost insulting.

Skubal not wanting to unsettle his preparations for the coming season makes sense. Skubal not wanting to risk injury with a massive free agency payday looming makes even more sense. What fans saw on Saturday doesn't really make sense. Skubal tried to make it sound like it would be the best of both worlds. That's not what it felt like for the fans.

Could Tarik Skubal pitch again at the WBC?

And then there's the question of whether he'd make his WBC presence actually matter by pitching again later in the tournament. He was cagey with Ken Rosenthal, saying he wouldn't answer that question right now.

Why bother with the wishy-washy approach? We know Skubal won't pitch again. As Jayson Stark pointed out, AJ Hinch fully expects his ace to be at Tigers camp for the remainder of spring training. Rosenthal himself stated without doubt that Saturday was it for Skubal.

It sounds to me like Skubal is having FOMO (fear of missing out). He wants to be part of the camaraderie of the World Baseball Classic without making the same sacrifices everyone else on the roster has accepted. And it's rubbing fans the wrong way.

How Team USA fans reacted to Tarik Skubal's brief WBC appearance

References to NFL players like Aaron Rodgers and Anthony Richardson were plentiful on social media. Rodgers famously led the Jets out of the tunnel before his first start in New York, only to suffer a season-ending injury on the first drive. Richardson took himself out of a game for the Colts because he was tired.

Mostly, fans were upset about the three-innings-and-out timeline.

As one fan put it, Skubal managed to tank his PR almost as badly as the Tigers did when they lowballed him in his arbitration case.

Skubal was in danger of picking up a loss by giving Great Britain an early lead. However, the Red, White and Blue finally found some offense in the fifth inning thanks to a wild pitch, a Kyle Schwarber home run and a Gunnar Henderson RBI double. Team USA led 5-1 in the bottom of the sixth.

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