Can Detroit Still Make the Wild Card After Selling Its Ace?
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Prior to the 2026 MLB Trade Deadline, Detroit Tigers team president Scott Harris and GM Jeff Greenberg assessed the team's place amidst a crowded American League playoff picture and their likelihood of retaining an impressive class of pending free agents.
Ultimately, while they held onto upcoming UFA's Jack Flaherty and Gleyber Torres, the trades of Casey Mize and Tarik Skubal appeared to announce a clear reset.
Well, not so fast. The Tigers are now 7-2 in their past nine games, including a 5-2 record post-Skubal (comparatively, the Los Angeles Dodgers are 2-6 since acquiring the two-time Cy Young winner).
Detroit has taken advantage of a soft stretch in their schedule, collecting wins over sub-.500 opponents like the Athletics, Seattle Mariners and San Francisco Giants as part of a just-completed nine-game west coast road trip. Along the way, they've scored plenty of runs (7.33 per game over the road trip) and stifled opposing hitters (17 runs allowed over the nine games, including four shutouts).
Can the Tigers Make a Playoff Push Without Skubal (and Mize)?
Detroit entered the 2026 season with some lofty playoff hopes thanks to a talented, balanced roster, even apart from their ace. Now, it is some of those secondary stars who are stepping up.
All-Star catcher Dillon Dingler continues to improve and is now generating MVP buzz after becoming an offensive force (26 home runs, 80 RBI, .862 OPS) for the Tigers alongside Riley Greene. From a pitching perspective, Troy Melton has done his best Skubal impression by proving practically unhittable lately, while Framber Valdez, Keider Montero and a returning Jackson Jobe have produced dominant outings.
Jobe has helped provide a much-needed injection of talent that also includes recently called-up top prospect Max Clark and catching prospect Eduardo Valencia, who homered in his first career major league at-bat.
For all of those positives to result in October baseball, Detroit will not only need for those players to keep playing like stars, but they will also require a little bit of help. Sitting two games below .500 (58-60), they remain 1.5 games back of the Texas Rangers for the third and final AL wild card spot. They also sit 3.5 games back of the Chicago White Sox in what is still a winnable AL West.
Suddenly, the prospect of charting an immediate future without Skubal or Mize doesn't seem quite so daunting. Every game is critical from now on, especially with a forthcoming six-game homestand that will bring the equally desperate (58-61) Cleveland Guardians to town, followed by the division-leading White Sox.
Teams have succeeded in the past after losing star players (the Washington Nationals won the World Series in 2019, their first season after losing Bryce Harper to free agency). However, there is little track record of teams selling off significant assets at the trade deadline - certainly not of the stature of Skubal - and then making a playoff run that same season.
After being on the wrong side of history during last season's September collapse, perhaps Detroit can flip the script and make their own history.
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Ben Fisher is a long-time sportswriter and baseball lover, dating back to 2008, when he was a member of the media relations team for the Toronto Blue Jays. He has covered a wide range of sports for a seemingly endless array of publications, including The Canadian Press, Fansided and The Hockey Writers. When he isn't writing about sports, he can be found coaching his equally baseball-obsessed sons' Little League teams.