DETROIT – Nobody told the crowd at Comerica Park to stand. Tarik Skubal handed the ball to his manager in the seventh inning Wednesday night, started walking toward the dugout, and 35,000 people came to their feet anyway. The applause held as long as he kept moving. When the Tigers lost 10-9 in 12 innings, nobody in the building seemed to notice the game was gone.
They were cheering something else.
The Chicago Cubs are pursuing a trade for Skubal before Monday’s August 3 deadline, CBS Sports reported, with Chicago’s front office actively weighing a run at the two-time consecutive American League Cy Young Award winner. The Cubs’ rotation has been eroded by injuries this summer, and Skubal, who carries a 2.57 ERA on the season, is the kind of arm that can anchor a postseason series rather than simply fill a spot in one.
Wednesday’s start against Baltimore was, by most measures, exactly what the Cubs would be bidding on. Skubal pitched 6 2/3 innings, allowed three runs on four hits, struck out six. It was his regular performance, the kind his rotation deploys on a predictable turn and has done for years. The bullpen surrendered seven runs after he left, turning a reasonable result into a 10-9 defeat that needed 12 innings to finish. That was not his problem.
Before his night ended, something else happened. Skubal’s 1,000th career strikeout came Wednesday, reached in 857 innings, faster than any pitcher in Detroit franchise history. He cleared the previous record held by Max Scherzer, who needed 944 2/3 innings. Among left-handed pitchers across all of baseball, only Billy Wagner, Aroldis Chapman, Robbie Ray, and Blake Snell got to 1,000 punchouts faster. When the milestone landed, the crowd at Comerica understood it was watching something that will not be easy to replace.
After the game, Skubal described the ovation as “special,” saying the fans had gotten to their feet and that mattered to him, something he had “always appreciated.” He wanted to “live in the moment.” Whatever else was swirling around him could stay outside the room.
The “stuff swirling around him” is the weight of a full trade market.
Skubal becomes a free agent at season’s end, and the Tigers’ payroll situation leaves no realistic path to retaining him. His next scheduled start falls on August 5, two days after the deadline closes. Wednesday was almost certainly the last time Detroit fans will watch him work at Comerica Park in a Tigers uniform. The franchise has not confirmed any deal is near, and the public silence is itself a negotiating position: the Tigers have an asset that multiple contenders want, and they have four days left to extract full value from it.
The Cubs need him badly enough to compete with the richest rosters in baseball. Chicago’s rotation injuries made a clear-eyed October run look unrealistic with what they currently have. Adding Skubal, who carries a 3.23 ERA since returning from elbow surgery on June 13 with no signs of lingering concern from the organization, changes the structure of their postseason ambitions entirely. He could pitch Game 1 or Game 2 of a series. That is not a move teams make for exposure; it is a move made when a window is genuinely open.
The competition is real. CBS Sports has identified the Los Angeles Dodgers as early favorites in the Skubal sweepstakes, and the Milwaukee Brewers were also reported to have entered the bidding as the week progressed. When a pitcher wins back-to-back Cy Young Awards, the asking price reflects it, and the Tigers can afford to let the auction run. Chicago’s farm system carries prospects capable of meeting Detroit’s expectations. The question is how deeply the Cubs are willing to reach into that depth, and how much organizational sacrifice makes sense against the uncertainty of any single October.
The Toronto Blue Jays, who opened their roster for business earlier this week by moving veterans to contending teams, have contributed to a deadline market with very few genuine frontline starters available. What Skubal represents at the top of that market is rare: a pitcher in his prime, under control, proven in critical moments. The Cubs understand that. So do the Dodgers. So do the Brewers.
None of that entered Skubal’s answer on Wednesday night. He talked about the ovation, about living in the moment, about what it means when a crowd rises for a pitcher walking off the field. He said the right things in the right amounts. Skubal has spent his career in Detroit earning exactly the kind of send-off he received Wednesday, if Wednesday is in fact what it looked like.
On his way off the field, he tipped his cap, CBS Sports reported. The crowd was still standing.
