Detroit Tigers Superstar Ace Named Best Pitcher in Baseball by MLB Fans

The Detroit Tigers were not expected by anyone outside of the state of Michigan to have an absolutely superstar in the starting rotation entering the 2024 season.
Tarik Skubal was outstanding in 2023, but it was over a relatively small sample size with just 15 starts. The hope entering the year was he could show the same flashes he had shown in the two seasons prior over the course of a full campaign and clearly make a statement that he's the Tigers ace and one of the better young arms in baseball.
Skubal did a whole lot more than that, raising his level of play to a place where he posted career-best marks in just about every statistic over a full slate of starts, leading the American League in ERA and all of baseball in strikeouts.
He didn't just establish himself as a star, he won a unanimous Cy Young award and established himself as the best pitcher on the entire planet. In a vote surveying fans across the league from the MLB Network, Skubal was voted as the best pitcher in baseball.
The fans voted Tarik Skubal as the top starting pitcher heading into next season. Do you agree?#Top10RightNow - 8pm ET on MLB Network pic.twitter.com/I48O9XEYRw
— MLB Network (@MLBNetwork) January 14, 2025
Skubal comes in ranked ahead of some of the most decorated pitchers in all of baseball such as fellow Cy Young in 2024 Chris Sale of the Atlanta Braves and Zack Wheeler of the Philadelphia Phillies as well as a bonafide consistent superstar in New York Yankees ace Gerrit Cole and young sensations like Paul Skenes of the Pittsburgh Pirates.
It's quite the statement about Skubal and really a testament to what he was able to do this past season. Outside of Skenes, just about every arm who Skubal came in ahead of has had at the very least multiple years near the top of the group of the game's elite, but Skubal had really just been good, but not great, before his breakout 2024 season.
In the pursuit of his Cy Young and in turn a very deep and surprising playoff run for Detroit, Skubal was so good that he leapfrogged the entire conversation and instead of just entering the category of the best in the game, he immediately jumped to the front of the line.
At 28 years old and just now beginning to enter the prime of his career, the sky is the limit for just how good Skubal can become. One thing is certain—he's made his mark on the sport. We can almost undoubtedly expect to see him topping lists again soon.