'Surprise, surprise': Skubal to start Opening Day vs. WS champs

LAKELAND, Fla. -- The Dodgers will get their World Series rings and raise their banner on March 27 before their home opener against the Tigers. Then they¡¯ll get to face Tarik Skubal.

After Skubal¡¯s incredible season in 2024, the announcement that the reigning American League Cy Young Award winner would be Detroit¡¯s Opening Day starter was a formality. Manager A.J. Hinch got it out of the way on Wednesday by announcing it during his in-game interview on the television broadcast.

¡°Surprise, surprise,¡± Hinch said after the Tigers¡¯ 4-0 loss to the Twins Wednesday at Joker Marchant Stadium.

But while the decision was easy, the matchup is not.

Skubal against a Dodgers lineup that could feature a reigning MVP and two former ones batting back-to-back-to-back? And on a national television broadcast? Bring it.

¡°You get to face the reigning champs on Day 1,¡± said Skubal, his mighty left arm holding his 1-year-old son Kasen, after his first outing of the spring Wednesday. ¡°You see how their offseason was and you see that lineup, it¡¯ll be fun. And in their home park, too. I¡¯m looking forward to the challenge.

¡°You don¡¯t know how many Opening Days you¡¯re going to start in your career. It¡¯s an honor to be able to start two of them.¡±

If that seems like a challenge, consider the task of the Twins, who rode a bus nearly three hours from Fort Myers to Lakeland to face Skubal in his first performance of 2025.

Skubal¡¯s ninth pitch of his Spring Training opener was a 100.1 mph fastball to Jair Camargo, who had stepped out of the batter¡¯s box to call timeout moments earlier as Skubal was beginning his delivery. The triple-digit heater was up and out of the zone for ball two, but it set up the 90 mph slider that sent Camargo flailing for strike three to end a 1-2-3 opening inning.

¡°I thought it was a little late, but whatever,¡± Skubal said of the timeout. ¡°You get a little competitive juices, too. So then the next pitch, you throw as hard as you can.¡±

Said Hinch: ¡°No matter who you are, or how well you¡¯ve done, there¡¯s the adrenaline of the first time. He threw obviously some really good pitches.¡±

The Twins had better looks and solid contact on Skubal in a nine-pitch second inning, including an opposite-field line drive from Jose Miranda for a leadoff single off an 0-2 fastball at 99 mph. Wenceel P¨¦rez ran down hard-hit line drives from Brooks Lee and Austin Martin on consecutive pitches before Mike Ford popped out to short to close out Skubal¡¯s afternoon at 19 pitches (14 strikes).

¡°I wish I threw a little bit more pitches,¡± Skubal said. ¡°But other than that, it was a good day. I threw a ton of strikes, got ahead, early contact. I think those were all good things. And I worked the second inning out of the stretch. So I thought it was a good day.¡±

Skubal¡¯s reprisal of his Opening Day role follows a decade-long pattern: He¡¯ll be the fifth consecutive Tigers pitcher to start back-to-back season openers, joining Eduardo Rodriguez (2022-23), Matthew Boyd (¡®20-21), Jordan Zimmermann (¡®18-19) and Justin Verlander (¡®16-17). No Tigers pitcher has started three consecutive Opening Days since Verlander¡¯s run of seven in a row from ¡®08-14.

¡°That [decision] was pretty obvious, but also cool that he gets to do it back to back,¡± Hinch said. ¡°We¡¯ve lined him up since Day 1.¡±