Tarik Skubal can follow in Justin Verlander's footsteps for Tigers in all ways but one

The MLB season has been quite an intriguing one, to say the least. We have seen the AL and NL MVP awards turn into landslide races where Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani will almost certainly win the awards. All the other speculation about those races are just there to try to make it more competitive of a race than it really is.

The AL Cy Young race was once very competitive, but now it seems as though the Detroit Tigers ace, Tarik Skubal, could run away with the award given his complete dominance this season.

Skubal has been so dominant that he could join Justin Verlander in the history books if he finishes the season off hot.

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Triple Crown watch: Tarik Skubal could join Justin Verlander in Tigers, MLB history

Tarik Skubal is currently on pace to win the AL Cy Young and the pitching Triple Crown in the American League this season. If you aren't positive on the Triple Crown, let me explain.

The pitching version of the Triple Crown means a pitcher leads his respective league in wins, strikeouts and ERA. This has been accomplished many times, mainly being done in the early part of the 20th century.

Shane Bieber joined this club in 2020, but let's exclude that year for now because it was the shortened covid season.

Besides Bieber, the most recent pitcher to accomplish the Triple Crown was Justin Verlander of the Detroit Tigers. Verlander recorded 24 wins and 250 strikeouts while holding a 2.40 ERA.

Now, 13 years later, Skubal is on pace to follow in Verlander's footsteps.

The lefty currently leads the American League in all three major statistical categories. Skubal leads the AL in wins with 14, strikeouts with 180 and ERA with a 2.53.

Barring a complete fall off, the ERA and strikeout leads should hold. The issue with an award like this is the pitcher wins. Skubal could throw flawlessly from here on out and still not record another win as it's a complete team stat. He will need the help of the Tigers offense and bullpen behind him to record a few more wins down the stretch.

Speaking of following in Verlander's footsteps, the Tigers fan base is hopeful that Skubal will follow in his footsteps on the field, not off the field, as Verlander was dealt from the Tigers to the Astros. For Detroit fans, they would like Skubal to ink a long-term extension with the team rather than being dealt.