Dodgers Star Calls Tarik Skubal the Opposite of Clayton Kershaw

The two left-handers differ mightily in one key area.

Aug 28, 2026; Detroit, Michigan, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers starting pitcher Tarik Skubal (29) watches from the dugout against the Detroit Tigers in the fifth inning at Comerica Park. Mandatory Credit: Lon Horwedel-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Clayton Kershaw's disdain for engaging in conversation on the days he was scheduled to start was legendary. The longtime Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher and future Hall of Famer reputedly brushed off Mark Walter early in his ownership tenure, before he was aware of the pitcher's fastidious start-day routine.

"When a visitor’s presentation to the Dodgers ran long on the morning of a Kershaw start this spring, Kershaw flopped to the floor to stretch while the visitor kept talking," Andy McCullough noted in a 2018 article for the Los Angeles Times.

Despite all their similarities, Tarik Skubal is not Clayton Kershaw in this regard.

Over their first six full seasons, the two pitchers have fashioned remarkably similar resumés on paper.

Both won two Cy Young Awards. Skubal made two American league All-Star teams, Kershaw three in the National League. (Skubal will need a third Cy Young Award, in addition to an MVP award, this season to match Kershaw's legendary start.)

Besides throwing with their left hand for the Dodgers, the similarities between Kershaw and Skubal start to run out quickly. First baseman Freddie Freeman, who was teammates with Kershaw for the final four years of the pitcher's career, said Kershaw's introverted start-day demeanor is notably absent in Skubal.

Freddie Freeman noticed Skubal talked with teammates as much as usual before Friday’s start.

In other words, he had plenty to say.

“We call him the opposite of Kersh on start days,” Freeman said.

— Jon Morosi (@jonmorosi) August 29, 2026

"We call him the opposite of Kersh on start days," Freeman said, noting that Skubal talked to teammates prior to his start in Detroit on Friday, via Jon Morosi of MLB Network.

In one sense, this makes Skubal's early-career dominance more impressive. Kershaw's focus was a cornerstone of his legend. Skubal, ostensibly, is able to dominate hitters without feeling cluttered by conversations he has throughout the day leading up to his start.

In Skubal's case, it helps to be able to pair a 97-mph fastball with deception, tunneling and four other pitches in his arsenal. Kershaw's bread and butter were his slider, curveball and fastball; velocity was never his edge. Intensity was.

In 2017, when then-Colorado Rockies pitcher Tyler Anderson was late to arrive in his own dugout following his pregame warmups — enough to push Kershaw's first pitch roughly a minute off schedule — Kershaw called it "one of the more disrespectful things I have been a part of in a game."

Skubal clearly finds his intensity on the mound, but he's able to set aside more readily than another famous Dodgers left-hander.

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