The Tigers are running out of runway before Monday's August 3 deadline, and Tuesday night in Detroit felt like a preview of what losing their ace actually looks like. Skubal was dominant again, cruising to career strikeout number 1,000 in front of a crowd that stood and cheered like they knew exactly what they were watching — a guy who might be pitching his last game in the Old English D.
Jon Heyman captured the moment Skubal got the ovation for his 1,000th career strikeout.
Standing ovation in Detroit for Tarik Skubal who just registered his 1,000th strikeout in what might be (maybe) his final game as a Tiger
The stuff that got him there was filthy as usual. Rob Friedman's clips from the start showed the full arsenal on display — a 98 mph fastball blowing hitters up and a curveball nasty enough to draw a sword swing from an overmatched batter.
Skubal painting at 98 mph, the kind of stuff that's driving the trade market.
Then the wheels came off. Detroit had built a 7-0 lead through six innings behind Skubal, only to watch the bullpen and lineup let it slip away in a slow-motion collapse that stretched into extra innings. Mark Feinsand confirmed the final gut-punch: a 12-inning loss to the Orioles that dropped the Tigers to 51-58.
Feinsand laid out the final damage after Detroit's 7-0 lead evaporated.
The Tigers fall to the Orioles in 12 innings, dropping to 51-58. Detroit had a 7-0 lead after six innings in what may have been Tarik Skubal's final start with the team.
Jon Heyman went a step further, reporting the score got even uglier than the blown lead alone suggests — a 10-9 final in 12 innings after Skubal exited with a 7-1 cushion in the 7th. Detroit now sits 4 games out of a wild card spot, and per Heyman, the loss makes a trade "more possible now," with the Skubal situation described as day to day.
Heyman's report tying the extra-innings collapse directly to the shifting trade calculus.
Skubal situation is day to day. Trade looks more possible now after Tigers lose 10-9 in 12 to the Orioles when Skubal left leading 7-1 in the 7th. They are 51-58 and 4 out in wild card race.
None of this is happening in a vacuum. Skubal is a two-time Cy Young winner heading into free agency after this season, and by most reporting he hasn't shown interest in a long-term extension to stay in Detroit. That's the whole reason the Tigers are staring down a decision they'd rather not make — hang onto a generational arm for a fringe playoff push, or cash in now before he walks for nothing next winter. If he hits the open market, Skubal's got a real shot at topping Yoshinobu Yamamoto's $325 million record and becoming the sport's first $400 million pitcher, which only raises the stakes on what Detroit could get back in a trade instead.
That's why every insider with a microphone spent Tuesday talking about nothing else. MLB Trade Rumors' podcast leaned into it, Jim Callis ran a roundtable asking point-blank if this was Skubal's last start in a Tigers uniform, and Mark Feinsand framed the whole night as Skubal preparing for a potential final start as a Tiger before it even happened. With Detroit's playoff odds thin and the deadline just days away, the ovation in Detroit might end up being the last one Skubal ever gets there.