This story was excerpted from Jason Beck's Tigers Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.
Tarik Skubal doesn’t play the superstar card very often. But if he has enjoyed anything off the field about his status as a back-to-back Cy Young Award winner and one of baseball’s nastiest pitchers, it’s the opportunity to get close to the field at some big events in other sports, from Detroit Lions football games to Michigan State-Michigan basketball to Pistons and Red Wings games.
So when the Tigers had a rare mid-series off-day in Texas to accommodate a FIFA World Cup knockout stage match next door, Skubal couldn’t pass up a chance to watch a match in person, snagging tickets with fellow Tigers starters Casey Mize and Jack Flaherty. Skubal went in with an open mind, having watched enough matches on TV. He left with a new appreciation for the sport at its highest levels.
“I have a way different respect for soccer now than I did then,” Skubal said. “I didn’t think it was as action-packed as it is. It’s the same with hockey. I never watched hockey on TV because [I thought] it was kind of boring. I couldn’t even tell where the puck is. And then you watch it in [person] and you’re like, ‘Holy …’
“I think it’s the same way with soccer. You watch it [on TV] and it’s kind of boring, no one scores. And then you just watch their ability to bend the ball, and every opportunity is so close, and there’s always great plays defensively, offensively. I started watching it on TV and I’m like, ‘This pass looks stupid.’ But when you watch it in person, you’re like, ‘This is insane the way they’re able to kick with their right and make it go across the pitch 50 yards right to the guy.’
“It’s incredible. It changed my perspective on soccer for sure.”
Watching a standout professional athlete from one sport watching another sport is interesting because of what they look for. Mize said he watches other sports with a little more sympathy for what athletes are going through than he would have when he was a kid, and an appreciation for execution.
”I’ve kind of gotten into soccer a little bit,” said Mize, who has been learning more about the game through an English-born friend near his home in St. Petersburg who’s a big Leeds United fan. “And now to be able to see it in person was really cool. I was way more engaged with the game than I thought I would be.
"I thought it would be a little bit boring, a little bit passive at times, like baseball can be. But I found myself to be a lot more engaged and couldn’t take my eyes off of it. That gave me a different perspective than what I would’ve thought. We had a great time.”
For Flaherty, the atmosphere of the match mixed in with fans from Australia and Egypt stood out.
“It was a fun environment to be in and be a part of,” Flaherty said. “You could feel the tension, the anxiety for the people around you that were like real fans of the teams playing. You could feel the anxiety in the stadium, especially with the game going to [penalties]. …
“The coolest part was watching Australian players have to do the walk-up [to the ball] with the Egypt crowd all booing them, because they’re going to their side. You could hear all the boos as they started walking up. And you’re thinking, it would be pretty fun to walk up to that. It was a cool environment.”