Rangers Will Now Face Cy Young Winner in Opener with Tigers on Friday

The Texas Rangers will have to deal with one of the best pitchers in baseball when they head to Detroit on Friday to face the Tigers.

Apr 27, 2025; Detroit, Michigan, USA; Detroit Tigers starting pitcher Tarik Skubal (29) throws a pitch against the Baltimore Orioles in the first inning at Comerica Park. | Lon Horwedel-Imagn Images

The Texas Rangers aren’t thinking ahead to their trip to face the Detroit Tigers later in the week. But perhaps they should be.

The Tigers are in Colorado to face the Rockies through Thursday. But Tuesday’s game was rained out. Considering it’s an interleague series and the only meeting between the two teams will have to rush to get all three games in.

After Wednesday’s game, the Tigers and Rockies will play a doubleheader on Thursday. Then, Detroit will return home.

As a result of the rainout, the Tigers have adjusted their rotation for the Rockies series and pushed back one of their pitchers to Friday’s opener against the Rangers at Comerica Park.

That pitcher just happens to be reigning Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal. The adjustment to the rotation was reported by The Athletic’s Cody Stavehagen.

How it Impacts Rangers

Texas didn’t exactly catch a break, even though the Rangers are coming off a 6-1 victory on Tuesday over the Boston Red Sox.

The game was the first since Texas fired its hitting coach, Donnie Ecker, and hired former Silver Slugger Bret Boone on Monday to replace him. Boone has never coached at any level. But he did play for Rangers manager Bruce Bochy with the San Diego Padres in 2000.

Skubal will present a huge challenge to the Rangers, even if the bats get going.

Skubal has been racking up intriguing milestones all season, the latest of which saw him become the third pitcher ever to throw at least 30 innings with a 0.90 ERA, 38 strikeouts and one walk in a five-start stretch.

Through seven starts he is 3-2 with a 2.21 ERA. He has 48 strikeouts and five walks in 40.2 innings.

Texas entered the series No. 25 in the Majors in batting average with a slash of .228/.285/.359, including 31 home runs and 111 RBI. Only the Rockies have driven in fewer runs than the Rangers.

The Rangers are hoping Boone can help get some of their struggling bats re-booted, including Marcus Semien and Joc Pederson, the latter of which has been mired in an epic slump to start the season.

Texas also called up Evan Carter on Tuesday and the 2023 World Series hero started in center field after Leody Taveras was claimed by the Seattle Mariners on outright waivers.