For the second consecutive year, Tarik Skubal was selected to the All-MLB First Team presented by MGM Rewards, earning one of five spots at starting pitcher.
The honor, announced Thursday on the heels of Skubal’s second consecutive AL Cy Young Award announced Wednesday night, adds another award to what is becoming a crowded trophy case for the Tigers left-hander.
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Fans voted on All-MLB teams at MLB.com following the end of the regular season until Oct. 10. When casting their ballots, voters are asked to consider only regular-season performance. The ballot included 31 starting pitchers, from which fans were asked to select five.
Skubal joins fellow AL Cy Young finalist Garrett Crochet on the All-MLB team, along with Paul Skenes, Max Fried and Yoshinobu Yamamoto. The Second Team includes Detroit native and AL Cy Young finalist Hunter Brown, Cristopher Sánchez, Freddy Peralta, Zack Wheeler and Bryan Woo.
Skubal’s 6.5 bWAR led AL pitchers for a second consecutive year, and was third in the Majors behind Sánchez and Skenes. Skubal’s 2.21 ERA was second only to Skenes in the big leagues, and nearly a quarter of a run better than Brown (2.43) for next-lowest. Skubal’s 7.3 strikeout-to-walk ratio easily led MLB, nearly two better than Crochet at 5.54. His WHIP (walks plus hits per innings pitched) ratio of .891 also led the Majors.
Just as important, Skubal led the Tigers on the field on days he pitched. There’s a different feeling facing Detroit when Skubal is on the mound. Though Skubal’s 13 wins didn’t even lead the Tigers – Casey Mize had 14 – Detroit went 21-10 in games Skubal started during the regular season, compared with 66-65 in the games that he didn’t (including 18-10 in Mize’s starts).
“Sitting in my chair, one of the easiest things to do and one of the most exciting things to do is hand the ball to the best pitcher in baseball,” manager A.J. Hinch said before Game 5 of the AL Division Series against the Mariners. “He obviously is somebody deeply trusted in our clubhouse to bring intensity, to bring high-end pitching and bring results.
“We win together, we lose together, but he leads us.”
Skubal was one of five AL pitchers to toss a shutout this season, but his complete-game two-hit blanking of the Guardians on May 25, with no walks and 13 strikeouts, was a masterpiece. His 94th and final pitch of the day was a 102.6 mph fastball for a strikeout, the hardest pitch of his career.
Skubal tossed seven or more scoreless innings in nine of his 31 regular-season starts. He allowed one run over 30 2/3 innings in a four-start stretch from May 25 to June 12, then tossed 19 more scoreless innings from late June into July.
“He put it all out on the line all season,” Gold Glove catcher Dillon Dingler said after the Tigers’ Game 5 loss in the Division Series. “That’s the kind of pitcher he is. ... He’s awesome. I’m sure I’ll always remember this season and what he accomplished. I’ll remember last year, but it was first-hand experience for me this year, catching him. It was awesome.”