Tarik Skubal gets honest about shifting focus from past success to further dominance ahead of Opening Day 2025

The Detroit Tigers will have their ace, Tarik Skubal, on the mound for Opening Day as they face the Los Angeles Dodgers on the road to kickstart their 2025 season. It will be the second Opening Day start of his career for the hard-throwing left-hander after doing so for the Tigers at the beginning of his dominant 2024 campaign.

Tarik Skubal is the leading favorite to win the American League Cy Young Award and retain his grip over the title for a second straight year. The Detroit Tigers ace won a pitching Triple Crown to claim the award unanimously last season as the team ended its playoff drought after an excellent run down the stretch.

Cody Stavenhagen, staff writer for The Athletic covering the Detroit Tigers, wrote a piece on Tarik Skubal for the publication on Tuesday. Stavenhagen stated that Skubal is aiming to post 200 innings this year and post another dominant season to defend his Cy Young.

"Those are kind of the horses around the league that do that, and I want to be one of those guys," Skubal said. "That’s the battle and challenge for me. I had a really good season last year. Cool. Nobody cares about that this year. Not one guy in here cares."

"I have never viewed myself as a guy who’s just happy to be here. I'm not happy to just be here and show up and check boxes and accrue service time and pay. I’m here to try to win," Skubal added.

Skubal pitched a career-high 192 innings over 31 starts for the Tigers last year and posted 6.4 bWAR. He notched up an 18-4 record in the regular season with a 2.39 ERA and 228 strikeouts.

You become addicted to that taste: Tarik Skubal on the Tigers' playoff aspirations

Tarik Skubal claimed a Triple Crown last year en route to winning the AL Cy Young (Image Source: IMAGN)

Tarik Skubal said the Detroit Tigers are desperate to qualify for the postseason again, with the current team getting their first taste of it last season.

"I think everyone got a taste of it," he said. "I think you become addicted to that taste."

"I like competing,” Skubal added. "I think it brings out the best out of me when you see the names and they’re very familiar and you know who they are and you go through your scouting report stuff as if it was a normal game."

The Detroit Tigers ended the 2024 regular season in third place after putting on a 34-19 record in the final two months to end their decade-long absence in the playoffs. They then knocked out the Houston Astros in the wild card round before losing to the Cleveland Guardians in the Division Series.