A short road trip to the Motor City awaits!
There has been no pitcher in baseball better than Detroit Tigers ace Tarik Skubal.
That’s an open-ended statement, and that’s by design.
If I’m talking about 2025, well, the answer is Tarik Skubal. He leads all MLB pitchers with 3.4 fWAR so far this season, a full half-win over Paul Skenes (2.9) in second place. That’s fueled by a ridiculous 15.00 K/BB and 1.86 xFIP, numbers that similarly lap the field in those particular categories.
If I’m talking about 2024-2025, the story’s the same – Skubal ranks at (or near) the top in all major metrics and, therefore, atop the counting categories. Only Zack Wheeler of the Philadelphia Phillies (13.5 fWAR) tops Skubal (12.5) in total fWAR since the start of the 2023 season, even, showing just how dominant the 2024 AL Cy Young Award winner has been for some time now.
In yet another fortuitous turn of events, the Cincinnati Reds head to Detroit this weekend to take on the Tigers, and they’re going to miss Skubal’s turn in the rotation. It’s a story that keeps sneaking its way into these previews this year, as the Reds have so far managed to dodge the likes of Paul Skenes in two separate series against the Pittsburgh Pirates already, too.
That’s not to say the rest of the Tigers rotation is chump change. They’re nearly 20 games over .500 and the leaders of the solid AL Central for a reason, after all, and their team packs a balanced offensive attack around Riley Greene and a resurgent Spencer Torkelson, too. The Reds, quite simply, are up against a really good Tigers club in the coming days, something they’ll have to overcome to keep their good play leading to wins in the right column.
Cincinnati’s efforts of the last week pushed them over the .500 mark again even after Wednesday’s thumping by the Cleveland Guardians in the series finale. They’ve won 5 of 6 games overall and look much more balanced offensively with a healthy Christian Encarnacion-Strand in the lineup, and they enter play in the Motor City just 4.0 games back of the final NL Wild Card spot.
There’s no chill in Cincinnati’s schedule until back to back series against Miami and Colorado beginning on July 7th, so it’s imperative they keep their good form going against the meat of their June slate. That’s Tiger meat first and foremost, and it begins on Friday evening.
Pitching Matchups
Friday, June 13th (7:10 PM ET): RHP Nick Martinez vs. RHP Keider Montero
Saturday, June 14th (1:10 PM ET): RHP Brady Singer vs. RHP Jack Flaherty
Sunday, June 15th (12:05 PM ET): LHP Wade Miley vs. RHP Sawyer Gipson-Long
How to Watch
Each of the three games of the series will be broadcast on FanDuel Sports Network. You can watch FDSN in-market through cable packages, though it’s also available to be streamed in-market with no blackout restrictions even without a cable subscription. You can check the link in the above sidebar (which I’ve re-linked right here) for more information on how you can do just that.
Sunday’s game will also be broadcast via Roku.
Per usual, you can view these final two games from outside the Reds TV market by catching the FDSN stream through MLB.tv.