Welcome home, Tarik Skubal.
The Detroit Tigers are scheduled to face Skubal, their former ace, next weekend when the Los Angeles Dodgers visit Comerica Park on Aug. 28-30.
The left-hander, who on Saturday night made his fourth start for the Dodgers, was traded from the Tigers late on Aug. 1, a little under 48 hours before the MLB trade deadline.
Skubal, the reigning two-time American League Cy Young Award winner, is in line to start next Saturday in the middle matchup of the three-game series at 1:10 p.m. opposite Tigers right-hander Drew Anderson.
Tarik Skubal stats with Dodgers
Skubal is 1-2 with a 3.38 ERA for the Dodgers over 24 innings. He gave up three runs to Pittsburgh in the first inning Saturday, Aug. 22, in Los Angeles, then shut the Pirates down the rest of the way over seven innings with 11 strikeouts to one walk and five hits (106 pitches). The Dodgers backed him with four runs in the fourth and fifth innings to give him his first victory in the National League.
The Dodgers, who own baseball’s second-best record behind only Milwaukee, are 2-2 in his starts. They entered Saturday with MLB’s largest division lead, nine games over San Diego in the National League West.
The Tigers, meanwhile, have dropped further down the standings in the chase for the final AL wild-card berth.
With the Tigers in 2026, Skubal made 16 starts and pitched 96⅔ innings. He went 7-5 with a 2.79 ERA, 0.91 WHIP, 74 hits and 116 strikeouts to 14 walks.
For his Tigers career, Skubal went 61-42 with a 3.04 ERA in 153 games (150 starts) in the regular season over parts of seven seasons.
Tarik Skubal draft pick
Skubal was a ninth-round pick in the 2018 MLB Draft out of Seattle University – the only Division I baseball program to offer him a scholarship – and debuted for the Tigers in 2020. He is from Chandler, Arizona.
Tarik Skubal stats in playoffs
In two runs through the MLB playoffs in 2024-25, Skubal is 2-1 with a 2.04 ERA in six starts, throwing 39⅔ innings and striking out 56 batters to six walks, 23 hits and nine runs.
He started the do-or-die ALDS Game 5 in both 2024 and 2025, with the Tigers losing both – though he exited last year’s game in Seattle after striking out 13 in six innings (99 pitches) with a 2-1 lead. He was ridiculed after the Tigers immediately gave up the lead and eventually lost 3-2 in 15 innings.
Who did Tigers get in Tarik Skubal trade?
In return for Skubal, the Tigers received three prospects: outfielder Zyhir Hope (LA’s No. 5 prospect), right-hander River Ryan (LA’s No. 7 prospect) and right-hander Brady Smith (LA’s No. 17 prospect).
Hope immediately slotted in as the Tigers’ No. 2 prospect, per MLB Pipeline (we saw him play in Double-A Erie three days after the deal), while Ryan is now the Tigers’ No. 4 prospect and Smith is No. 10.
However, both pitchers are hurt.
Ryan, 28, has been rehabbing a hamstring injury while on the seven-day injured list at Triple-A Toledo – an injury he suffered before the trade – and should be ready to pitch any day. The Tigers this week said he is throwing fastballs in the upper-90s during bullpens. He made four starts for the Dodgers in 2024 with a 1.33 ERA in 20⅓ innings before undergoing Tommy John surgery.
Smith, 21, hurt his arm in the second inning of a start Aug. 15 for High-A West Michigan. He was placed on the seven-day injured list.
Smith was a third-round pick in 2023 by the Dodgers out of high school in Tennessee. He had Tommy John surgery shortly after turning pro, missed all of 2024 and pitched just 21 innings in 2025.
Why did the Tigers trade Tarik Skubal?
Skubal, who is 29 and turns 30 on Nov. 20, 2026, will be a free agent after the 2026 season. Quite simply, the Tigers are not expected to be in the market to pay him the potential record $400 million contract super-agent Scott Boras is looking for.
Boras is known for taking clients to free agency and signing top-of-the-market contracts with new teams.
The Tigers, led by owner Christopher Ilitch and president of baseball operations Scott Harris, previously low-balled Skubal in contract extension negotiations (four years, less than $100 million) after the 2024 season, and could not even agree with Boras on what Skubal was worth this past winter and went to arbitration. Skubal won the hearing and is earning $32 million this season – the Tigers offered $19 million.
Detroit Tigers schedule
This coming week, the Tigers will host the Tampa Bay Rays, who lead the American League East and have the best record in the AL, for three games Monday-Wednesday, then have an off day before the three games against the villain Dodgers.
The Dodgers will visit the NL East-leading Atlanta Braves on Tuesday-Thursday, before coming to Detroit. The Dodgers are set up to have a six-man rotation with the return of Tyler Glasnow on Tuesday off the 60-day IL.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Dodgers’ Tarik Skubal lined up to start vs Tigers at Comerica Park
Reporting by Marlowe Alter, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Marlowe Alter, Detroit Free Press | USA TODAY Network
