Tigers Superstar Pitcher Tarik Skubal Takes Home Coveted Honor

The Detroit Tigers ace won another award.

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It's no secret that Detroit Tigers ace Tarik Skubal is not only a top pitcher in the American League, but also in the MLB as a whole.

Coming off another season where he dominated the opposition, he continues to show signs of improvement as he backed up his AL Cy Young-winning performance in 2024 with an even better showing this year.

As a result, he earned his second consecutive Players Choice Award where he was named the AL Outstanding Pitcher for the 2025 campaign.

Congratulations to @TarikSkubal on being named the @MLBPA Players Choice Awards AL Outstanding Pitcher for the second consecutive year! 👏 https://t.co/CkriFMQjQ6

— Detroit Tigers (@tigers) October 29, 2025

Even with the awards he has garnered already -- and with potentially even more on the horizon -- it's always nice to be honored by peers, especially with this being the second consecutive time he's taken home this award.

That is the latest example of Skubal entering his prime, as he was a late bloomer when it came to the MLB level and only recently has turned into the dominant version of himself that has been on display the past couple of seasons.

Getting Better and Better

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While most of the conversation surrounding Skubal has been about the impending offseason and what it could mean for his future, not much has been discussed regarding his career year. Somehow, Skubal not only continued his form from his AL Cy Young-winning 2024 season, but he also improved upon it.

His ERA improved from 2.39 in 2024 to 2.21 this year in what was the highest amount of innings he's thrown in his career at 195.1, beating out his 2024 mark by just over three frames. Part of that was the ability to go deep into games, evident by the first complete game of his career for the Tigers. He also had the lowest ERA in the American League this season, which is the second straight time he's done that.

Skubal dominated the innings he threw by commanding the strike zone with ease. He finished with 241 K's on the year, which was 13 more than he had last season. He also led the league in strikeouts-to-walk ratio with a 7.30 and walks per nine innings at 1.5, both of which are career bests as well.

He also led the league in bWAR (6.6), ERA+ (187), FIP (2.45) and WHIP (0.891), all of which were also career marks for Detroit's ace. Despite ending up with five fewer wins on the season, he did enough to impress his peers for this award and is viewed as one of two favorites for the 2025 Cy Young Award alongside Garrett Crochet.

Now, as the conversation turns to whether the Tigers will be able to retain one of the sport's greatest starting pitchers, he has yet another award to his name as he continues contract negotiations with Scott Harris, the president of baseball operations.