Detroit Tigers Superstar Has 'Legitimate Chance' at AL Triple Crown
The Detroit Tigers aren't going to be contending for a World Series this year, but their star player has a real chance to win something impressive thanks to his incredible season.
Manny Randhawa of MLB recently highlighted a couple of the most intriguing stat races down the stretch in 2024 and in doing so, pointed out that Tigers ace Tarik Skubal has a real chance to win the Triple Crown this year.
Skubal holds the AL lead in wins, strikeouts and ERA as the league heads into the last month of the season. There are still a couple of starts left this year, but things look good right now.
The closest race right now is strikeouts. He has 193 so far this year, which already a clear career-record. His best number before this season was 164.
He's been an elite strikeout guy for a while, but his high rate combined with a lot of innings this year makes for an impressive number.
Detroit's star southpaw has reached at least eight strikeouts in five his last six starts and has done that 12 times overall.
The closest competition that he will have is Kansas City Royals ace Cole Ragans and Chicago White Sox flamethrower Garrett Crochet.
Ragans has rung up just six less batters so far and has a similar strikeout rate to Skubal.
Crochet averages an incredible 12.6 K/9 this year, but his vastly reduced workload down the stretch will likely keep him from catching up to the Tigers star.
Another stat that Skubal also has to worry about over the next few weeks is win.
He has almost doubled any other season of his career with 15. Going into the last month with more than anyone else should have him feeling good, but two pitchers are sitting with just one less.
Seven of his last eight decisions have been wins, keeping him with a nice pace. Detroit in an incredible 18-8 in games that he started this year.
Seth Lugo of the Royals and Carlos Rodon of the New York Yankees each sit at 14. Both of those squads are still playing 'meaningful' baseball, but the Tigers are red hot themselves and keep winning games.
Skubal's largest lead is one that can change quickly, ERA. His 2.58 number is actually tied for the overall MLB lead with Atlanta Braves ace Chris Sale. The next highest in the AL is Seattle Mariners starter Logan Gilbert with 3.09.
The Tigers superstar is the clear favorite to win the first AL Cy Young award of his career, but also has a real chance to take home some more accolades as well.
DYLAN SANDERS