A few days ago, Philadelphia Phillies superstar Trea Turner, who is also the National League batting champion, explained why hitting is so hard in 2025.
"Everyone throws 100." Turner said. "Everyone has six pitches. Nobody knows where the ball's going. There are a lot of reasons. Defenses are way better than they've ever been. If you're a defender now and you don't make plays, you get exposed. So to me, it makes a lot of sense. You could have an average pitcher throwing 95 and have six pitches. And you've got to go up there and be ready for all of them."
Turner was talking about the broadly difficult task of hitting in the modern game, but he might as well have been talking about Tarik Skubal.
The Detroit Tigers' left-handed ace might just be the best pitcher on the planet. And if he wants to make that case, he should just show everyone the footage of his start Tuesday against the Cleveland Guardians in Game 1 of the AL Wild Card Round.
Skubal was dominant from the moment he took the hill to the moment he walked off.
His fastball was hitting 101 miles per hour in the seventh inning.
His changeup was between 90-92 MPH with drop and cut.
His slider was at 94 MPH with nasty action.
Skubal threw every pitch where he wanted, and he left with a 2-1 lead. The one run by the Guardians came on a pair of infield singles and a walk, not exactly baseballs being squared up. He was that good all afternoon long.
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Tarik Skubal stats today
Skubal was as good as he's ever been, including setting his career-high in strikeouts:
- 7.2 innings pitched
- 3 hits allowed
- 1 run allowed
- 3 walks allowed
- 14 strikeouts
The Tigers took Skubal out after a season-high 107 pitches, and Will Vest stranded the potential tying run on second to keep Skubal as the active winning pitcher of record.
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