Tarik Skubal to Tigers: 'We need to play better baseball or else'

Two-time reigning American League Cy Young Award winner Tarik Skubal has given the slumping Detroit Tigers a reality check with the trade deadline on the horizon.

"The reality is we need to play better baseball or else, come the deadline, you give the front office an option to reassess where this team is," Skubal told The Detroit News earlier this week in a story published Thursday. "And if they don't think what we have is a World Series -- or playoff-caliber -- team, then the whole team is going to look different. That's just the nature of the beast."

Skubal, a left-hander, will make his second start Friday since undergoing surgery May 6 to remove bone fragments from his pitching elbow. The Tigers and Chicago White Sox open a three-game series on Friday.

He lost his return game on Saturday, with the Cleveland Guardians winning 3-1. Skubal gave up three runs (two earned) on five hits in 4 2/3 innings.

The Tigers have lost four of their past five games and sit 9 1/2 games in back of the White Sox and Guardians, who are tied for first place in the American League Central.

"The future for a lot of people in this room -- not just myself -- the outlook could look very much different in two months and it all comes to an abrupt end," Skubal told The Detroit News. "We still control our destiny a little bit. We still do.

"We play the team this weekend that's winning our division. It's another big series. You don't want to be playing playoff baseball in June, but it feels like we're playing playoff baseball. We don't have very much room for error, and everyone understands that. Everyone understands there has to be a sense of urgency. There has to be. Not panic. But there has to be a sense of urgency to try to win every game we play."

Skubal, 29, is 3-3 with a 2.81 ERA in eight starts this season. He has struck out 49 batters and walked only seven in 48 innings.

He has a 57-40 record and a 3.06 ERA in seven seasons and 145 games (142 starts) for the Tigers since 2020. He has struck out 938 batters compared to 179 walks in 814 2/3 innings.

--Field Level Media