Twelve in a row, and a stadium unsure what to do
The video montage played before the first pitch. Seven seasons, two Cy Young Awards, one message on the board at the end: thank you, Tarik. Then Tarik Skubal took the mound in a Los Angeles Dodgers uniform and Comerica Park had to decide how it felt about that. Most of the crowd clapped. Some of it booed.
Skubal answered with six innings, one run and seven strikeouts. He retired twelve consecutive batters at one stage, struck out the side in the third, and only saw the run end when Eduardo Valencia led off the fifth with a double. The Dodgers won 4-3.
Twenty-seven days had passed since the trade. That is a short window for a pitcher to be booed in a building where he was, until this month, the most valuable asset on the roster.
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The July night that made this game inevitable
Detroit did not plan on selling. The plan collapsed on July 29, when the Tigers carried a 7-0 lead into the seventh inning against Baltimore and lost 10-9 in twelve. Skubal was the starting pitcher. That defeat dropped Detroit to 51-58, six games behind the Chicago White Sox, and the front office moved him to Los Angeles for three prospects within the week.
The economics behind the decision were never hidden. Skubal reaches free agency after this season, and the industry expectation is a contract approaching 400 million dollars, which would be the largest ever given to a pitcher. Detroit had no realistic path to matching that.
What the Tigers gave up is visible in the underlying numbers rather than the win column. His strikeout-to-walk ratio this year sits at 8.46, the best of his career, and his FIP of 2.68 runs below his ERA. This has arguably been his sharpest season.
Two teams heading opposite directions
Detroit fell to 62-71 and are 9-12 since the trade, with a postseason case that now needs help from four different teams. Their last World Series title remains 1984.
Los Angeles are chasing something no National League club has managed: three consecutive World Series titles. Friday night in Detroit was a reminder of why they made the call at the deadline.
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