Detroit Tigers Superstar Has Tremendous Chance of Repeating as Cy Young Winner

The Detroit Tigers ace has gotten off to a sensational start to follow up his Cy Young campaign.

Apr 14, 2025; Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA; Detroit Tigers pitcher Tarik Skubal (29) reacts after striking out Milwaukee Brewers first baseman Rhys Hoskins (12) (not pictured) during the sixth inning at American Family Field. | Jeff Hanisch-Imagn Images

The Detroit Tigers have been a pleasant surprise to start the season, tied for the best record in the American League at 10-7.

Internal development was always going to be key in terms of continuing the momentum from last year's incredible playoff run and parlaying it into a successful season, and the Tigers have certainly developed internally with some of their players off to huge starts this year.

However, Detroit was also going to need the guys who were stars last season to continue to be stars. When it comes to 2024 unanimous Cy Young winning left-hander Tarik Skubal, that's exactly what has happened.

Skubal did not exactly struggle over his first two starts against the Los Angeles Dodgers and Seattle Mariners, but posting a 5.91 ERA over 10.2 innings was unusual for the big lefty.

In his next two outings against the New York Yankees and Milwaukee Brewers, however, Skubal absolutely dominated with 13 scoreless innings, 15 strikeouts and no walks, dropping his ERA from 5.91 to 2.66.

Skubal seems to be improving with each inning he throws, something that is a dangerous prospect for the rest of Major League Baseball.

In 2024, the 28-year-old had an 18-4 record with an American League-leading 2.39 ERA alongside a 0.92 WHIP and Major League-leading 228 strikeouts in 192 innings pitched.

While the follow-up campaign got off to a bit of a rocky start, over the last two games Skubal has looked just as good (if not better) than he was last year.

If Skubal keeps it up, he has a tremendous chance to join a short list of pitchers with back-to-back Cy Young awards. Only eight men have done it, but Skubal could be the ninth.

He's not the kind of player who cares about individual accolades over wins, however as competitive as Skubal wins, there's no question he wants to defend his crown this year and prove beyond any shadow of a doubt that he is the best pitcher on the planet right now.

If the last two starts are any indication, he has a strong chance of doing just that.