The interaction was clearly tongue-in-cheek, but it spotlighted the inevitable negotiations ahead for the Tigers ace.

Tarik Skubal joined elite company alongside Clayton Kershaw after his dominant start against the Baltimore Orioles.

The Tigers, who start a three-game series with the Reds on Friday, are 44-25, a start so dominant that the last Detroit club to break so strongly reached the 2006 World Series.

The Detroit Tigers are off to a fantastic start in 2025, proving they might be the team to beat in the American League.

In a recent survey of 135 anonymous players across 21 teams by The Athletic, Skubal’s game received plenty of praise. “He’s nasty for everybody,” one player said of the lefty. “Everything’s really hard, his changeup’s really good. Hard to pick up. Everything’s kind of funky coming out of all of the stuff he does.”

Tarik Skubal Gets Good Cy Young Award News on Tuesday originally appeared on Athlon Sports.