mlive
DETROIT -- Tarik Skubal will get a few days away from competition during the All-Star break.
He would rather keep pitching.
Skubal will make his final start of the first half Sunday against the Philadelphia Phillies at Comerica Park.
The Tigers (44-50) entered Saturday having won six consecutive games and nine of their last 10, only 2 1/2 games out of an American League Wild Card spot.
It is not a run Skubal particularly wants to interrupt.
I dont want to go on the break, Skubal said.
I want to keep playing baseball because the boys are playing a really good brand, and its been a ton of fun to be in the dugout and cheer these guys on.
He also would have preferred to spend the break in Philadelphia, participating in what would have been his third consecutive All-Star Game.
Skubal would have been there if not for a roughly six-week absence following an elbow procedure that interrupted his season.
Even with the missed time, his numbers are strong enough to make a case: 84 strikeouts and 10 walks over 70 innings in 12 starts.
I dont think you take any All-Star Game for granted, Skubal said.
You always want to be in the room with that type of talent and be around those types of guys who are extremely talented.
Id much rather be there, for sure.
He will not take a mini-vacation or return home to Arizona.
Skubal plans to remain in Detroit and continue preparing for the second half.
Ive already kind of set up some stuff here to be able to come in and get the work in that I need to get, and to make the start that Im scheduled to make after the break, Skubal said.
I already know the plan, so Im going to prepare and get ready to go again.
Ive had enough break this year.
I dont look forward to having any more breaks.
More of Skubals comments from Saturday: On the Tigers recent surge I dont know if me saying anything changed anything.
I dont really want to take credit for how our team has been playing baseball.
I just think were playing a really good brand, right? Were running the ball out of the yard.
Were having a lot of quality at-bats, playing great defense.
Starting pitching has been fantastic.
Relievers have done their jobs and gotten us zeroes and picked us up when we needed it.
Its just fundamental baseball, I think, that were playing.
And its been a ton of fun.
I dont want to go on the break.
I want to keep playing baseball because the boys are playing a really good brand, and its been a ton of fun to be in the dugout and cheer these guys on.
Then you see stories like (Eduardo) Valencia coming up and doing what hes doing.
Ding (Dillon Dingler) goes down, Rog (Jake Rogers) picks him right back up.
Were just playing very complementary baseball right now, and its fun to be a part of.
On why the Tigers didnt lose confidence during their difficult start Adversity isnt foreign to us.
A lot of guys in this room went through the 2024 season and took a lot of confidence away from it, and then went through the 2025 season, almost the complete opposite, and we were still able to go into the postseason and make some noise.
We eliminated the team that kind of pulled the rug out from underneath us in the regular season, right? They chased us down and won the division.
Then we went into their place and beat them.
I think that speaks volumes about us.
Then we were just one pitch away, one swing away from going to the Championship Series.
I think when you have that perspective, it gives you a ton of confidence in the group.
We found ways to lose.
We beat ourselves.
We kind of did the whole thing in May.
But I think we all knew that wasnt the team that we are.
We just kept reminding ourselves that were a really good baseball team, and never let confidence be dictated by a result.
The game is already hard enough.
If you let your confidence go down even a step, youre going to get smothered and covered, and youll never get back out of it.
So, just never let confidence escape you.
No matter if youre having a really good time or a really poor performance, youve got to be the same guy every single day.
I think a lot of the guys in this clubhouse are that.
So, its no surprise to me why were winning baseball games at the rate we are right now.
On becoming a veteran and helping younger players Something I take pride in is trying to make this place as comfortable as it can be for younger guys.
I think, with the evolution of baseball, everyone is getting younger.
Every clubhouse is getting younger.
Somehow, Ive become a veteran, and I havent even hit free agency yet.
Im a six-year guy.
That wasnt how it used to be.
It used to be like 10 years, and then you became a veteran.
Now, all of a sudden, it feels like you get to arbitration and youre kind of a veteran guy.
The game is changing, right? Clubhouses change and dynamics change.
Youre still holding each other accountable.
Its not like, Hey, go play and do whatever you want out there.
You still have standards, and I think we play to those standards.
But you also need to be comfortable and confident in yourself here before any success happens because its not always guaranteed.
Especially as a hitter, or even as a pitcher, you can get small-balled to death.
You can hit the ball really hard and not get rewarded with knocks or anything.
This game is already hard enough.
So, just making sure everyone is mentally clear and confident in themselves is something that I hope, if you ask anyone in this clubhouse, they feel that vibe from me.
Because thats what I try to do.
I try to make sure the clubhouse is a very comfortable place and that guys are just able to play baseball.
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