How Detroit Tigers playoff run helped Tarik Skubal win 2024 AL Cy Young Award

Detroit Tigers left-hander Tarik Skubal — the 2024 American League Cy Young Award winner — is a team-first player. He always talks about the accomplishments of the team and never boasts about his personal achievements. Here's what Skubal confessed: After months of deflecting, the ace of the Tigers let thoughts of winning the AL Cy Young Award creep into his mindset around the July 30 trade deadline, when the Tigers traded away four veteran players. "And then once our team got hot, and the playoff push started to happen, it immediately eliminated those thoughts," Skubal said Wednesday on a conference call. "That was a blessing." Skubal won the AL Cy Young Award on Wednesday for the first time in his five-year MLB career, receiving all 30 first-place votes from the Baseball Writers Association of America for the 13th unanimous victory in the history of the AL award. The 28-year-old went 18-4 with a 2.39 ERA, 35 walks and 228 strikeouts across 192 innings in 31 starts. He also pitched in the postseason for the first time, posting a 2.37 ERA with two walks and 20 strikeouts across 19 innings in three starts. The Tigers reached the playoffs with Skubal as one of two traditional starters in the rotation for the final two months of the regular season, using an untraditional opener-bulk reliever strategy for the other three spots in the rotation. "When I was given the ball every fifth day, I think everyone expected to win," Skubal said, "and that's something I take a ton of pride in. I'm trying to be the same guy and put my team in a position to win every fifth day, and we'll figure out the other three, four days in between. I think it speaks to what we did. We were able to do those things and probably gave A.J. (Hinch, manager) some long nights, but he was good for it." [ MUST LISTEN: Make "Days of Roar" your go-to Detroit Tigers podcast, available anywhere you listen to podcasts (Apple, Spotify) ] The Tigers, though, were all but eliminated from postseason contention at the July 30 trade deadline. Therefore, president of baseball operations Scott Harris traded Jack Flaherty, Andrew Chafin, Mark Canha and Carson Kelly. When those trades happened, Skubal started to think about winning the award. Who could blame him? After Aug. 10, the Tigers were on pace for 75 wins (which would've been the second-fewest wins in the four seasons under Hinch) with a 55-63 record, sitting 10 games out of a wild-card spot. That's when everything changed — for Skubal and the Tigers. The Tigers went on a 31-11 run from Aug. 11 through Sept. 27 to clinch a wild-card spot in the postseason, finishing 86-76 for their most wins in the past eight seasons and advancing to the playoffs for the first time in a decade. JEFF SEIDEL:Tarik Skubal's climb to AL Cy Young a testament of perseverance and his own magic "I think when you start thinking about this game individually, it'll eat you up," Skubal said. "When you think about it from a team aspect, it's a fun and beautiful game to play. As much as the playoff thing was great for our team, it was also great for me as an individual." Beginning Aug. 11, Skubal went 5-0 with a 1.85 ERA, seven walks and 57 strikeouts across 48⅔ innings in his final eight starts of the regular season. The results of those eight starts dropped his season-long ERA from 2.57 to 2.39. In total, the Tigers won 21 of Skubal's 31 starts. "It's always my goal to put my team in a position to win," Skubal said, "but then you put some meaningful games in there for the last six, seven weeks of the season, it just heightens and elevates that level of focus that you don't get anywhere else. What our team was able to do was special, not only for our club but also for me." Skubal performed at his best when the games mattered the most, which ultimately led to the first three postseason starts of his career — and the AL Cy Young Award. But award-winning pitcher didn't forget to show love to his support system, including his teammates. "I don't really like talking about myself too much," Skubal said. "As much as this is an individual award, it's very much a team effort, a group effort, from the people that are in my life, from the organization, from the defense, the catching, the timely hitting. As much as I can make it about myself, I think it's important to give credit to the people around me that make me look good when I'm on the mound. It's important to give credit to people that make my job pretty simple." PAYS OFF:Tarik Skubal 'worked really hard' to become MLB's best, says workout buddy Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him @EvanPetzold. Listen to our weekly Tigers show "Days of Roar" every Monday afternoon on demand at freep.com, Apple, Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts. And catch all of our podcasts and daily voice briefing at freep.com/podcasts.