Tigers Ace Joins Elite Company with Most Recent Dominant Showing
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The Detroit Tigers have blossomed into the best team in the entire American League this season, and a good chunk of their success has been thanks to their elite ace, Tarik Skubal.
The reigning AL Cy Young award winner has followed up his dominant 2024 campaign so far by reaching an even higher level of excellence on the mound, excellence that was put on full display yet again Sunday night against the Minnesota Twins.
Taking the mound for his No. 17 start of the year, Skubal was absolutely unhittable. He fired seven shutout innings against one of the better lineups in the AL, and matched a career high with 13 strikeouts.
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In addition to lowering his ERA down to 2.15, Skubal's excellent showing also marked his tenth consecutive decision victory, a victory that put him into some very elite company.
According to the official MLB X account, Skubal's triumph on Sunday night made him just the third Tigers pitcher in the last 40 years to win 10 consecutive decisions.
The other two names on that list? Only two of the greatest pitchers of the last 20 years, and two future first ballot Hall of Famers in Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer.
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Tarik Skubal's in some ELITE company 🐅
— MLB (@MLB) June 30, 2025
He joins Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander as the only @Tigers to win 10 consecutive decisions in a season over the past 40 years! pic.twitter.com/kttznLlWVd
If there was any doubt left about how special Skubal has been over the last couple of years for Detroit, him putting his name up next to two of the greatest to ever take the mound in the Motor City has surely eliminated it.
Much like how Verlander and Scherzer elevated the Tigers into true World Series contenders during the early 2010s, Skubal is also elevating the team now in a similar fashion.
He's become the lynchpin on the mound for a Detroit squad that has burst onto the scene in 2025, becoming the favorites to secure their first AL pennant in 13 years.
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It seems like every time Skubal takes the mound he raises his already insanely high bar even further, which has also made him the favorite to take home the AL Cy Young yet again.
If the ace can keep shoving like he did on Sunday night, he might also end up leading the Tigers to their first World Series title in over 40 years, and that's a feat that not even Scherzer or Verlander were able to accomplish in their tenures with the team.
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Georgia native and avid Atlanta sports fan who has lived in the Charlotte area for the past eight years. Got started writing about sports for my middle school paper and haven’t stopped since. Graduate from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and proud 49er. Passionate sports writer who has covered everything from high school soccer to the NFL for several prominent outlets including the Charlotte Observer, ESPN, and the Carolina Panthers. Also covered the South Carolina Gamecocks football program as the lead beat writer for Last Word on College Football, and was a contributing writer for several other notable online publications such as Yardbarker. Lives and breathes sports and will watch whatever is on or in season. Favorite teams include the Braves, Hawks, Falcons, and Georgia Bulldogs. Massive Jordan Speith and Rory McIlroy fan on the PGA Tour