SEATTLE -- Sometime Sunday afternoon, Tarik Skubal will file into T-Mobile Park and begin his prep work for his start in Game 2 of the AL Division Series against the Mariners. Baseball’s most intimidating pitcher will settle into the visiting clubhouse, find his catcher and raise the first question on his mind as he prepares for his latest opponent with the Tigers’ postseason hopes on the line ...
What is 27 Across?
It is not exactly the equivalent of Justin Verlander walking into the clubhouse with his headphones on his ears blaring music, with nobody talking to him. But to the reigning AL Cy Young Award winner, and favorite to repeat, the crossword puzzle is a big part of his pre-start routine.
“If I could just show up two hours before the game and just start my routine and do it, I would probably do that,” Skubal admits. “But you show up, hang out a little bit and get settled in at the field, and that's part of me getting settled in to start my routine and get going.”
He’s far from alone. Walk into any Major League clubhouse, and you’ll find a pile of crossword puzzles and sudoku puzzles. Nearly every clubhouse carries the daily USA Today crossword. Some include the Los Angeles Times for an added challenge.
The Tigers have at least a half-dozen players who do the crossword, and others who do the sudoku. But Skubal is the only starting pitcher in the group, let alone the only Cy Young winner.
“I started a long time ago,” catcher Jake Rogers said. “I got hooked on it with all the catchers. We'd get to Spring Training at 5 a.m., we would go and work out and catch bullpens. And then after bullpens we'd have an hour just to sit down, have a cup of coffee and relax. I saw those guys doing it, just started doing it with him.
“I was terrible [at first]. That was 2018, I think. I'd gotten pretty good at them, doing them over and over again, a lot of repeat stuff. Me and Skub started doing them every day, and now I think there's quite a few of us doing it.
“I call it the test, my daily test.”
Said Skubal: “I used to do it with [former Tigers reliever Tyler Alexander] and Rog. They helped me a lot. Now I can kind of do it individually.”
For a while, the crossword was the first thing Skubal did every day he came to the ballpark. As his pregame commitments grew this season, he has had to cut back. But on days he’s pitching, it’s still a ritual he has to do.
And being Tarik Skubal, he’s competitive about it.
“On days I pitch, I have to finish it,” Skubal said. “I will not leave it empty. I will finish it. I might need some help, sure, but I will write in every answer.”
Like any pitcher, he will lean on his catcher for advice.
“I'll be walking around and Skub will be like, 'Rog, I need help.' So I'll come over and try to give him another hint,” Rogers said. “That way he can finish it without me giving him the answer.”
As Dillon Dingler has taken over as Skubal’s primary catcher, he has also joined in.
“It's one of those things where Rog and I always do it before he does,” Dingler said. “We always collab if we can't finish it. There's always like one or two clues in there that mess you up. But he's great at them.”
On days Skubal is pitching, it’s not uncommon to find his completed crossword puzzle lying on the table in the middle of the clubhouse, a few hours before his first pitch. Sometimes they’ll have notes on them, showing his path to work his way to an answer. And they’ll always include his autograph at the bottom, something he picked up from teammates.
What happens with them after that?
“Trash them. Shred them,” Skubal said. “I don't care.”
Not always. Tigers clubhouse manager Dan Ross, knowing what the crossword means to the lefty, began saving some from his start days at home for him as artifacts from his rise as baseball’s best pitcher.
“I wish I could do more of them,” Skubal said. “I just don't have as much time.”
Someday, after his career is over, he will. And maybe he’ll find himself a six-letter answer for a back-to-back Cy Young winner who led the Tigers to October glory.