Justin Verlander is undoubtedly one of the greatest players to ever wear a Detroit Tigers uniform. But shockingly, he was usurped in one specific category he used to own in team history by current Tigers ace Tarik Skull after his latest unbelievable outing on Sunday night.
Skubal was lights out on Sunday against the Texas Rangers much like he has been all season long, striking out Rangers hitters with ease en route to an 11 strikeout game in 6.2 innings, allowing just one run on four hits in the game. Most importantly, the Tigers would win the game 2-1, extending their lead over everyone in the America League in the process and becoming the first team in the AL to 60 wins.
With his latest perform, Skull enters truly elite category that even Justin Verlander was never able to accomplish.
Coming into the game, Skubal was tied with Verlander for the most games with double-digit strikeouts with no walks in an outing with six games of that magnitude. And now, Skubal stands above even Verlander with seven outings with those qualifying stats.
Skubal still has a lot to prove in terms of how his unbelievable individual accolades translate to the postseason. In that department, Verlander is far more proven than Skubal.
Still, it speaks to how great Skubal is to even be brought up in the same category as Verlander, much less actually taking one of his team records like he did on Sunday night. So clearly, Skubal could very well end up having as great of a career, if not better, than Verlander has had.
About Reice Shipley
Reice Shipley is a staff writer for Comeback Media that graduated from Ithaca College with a degree in Sports Media. He previously worked at Barrett Sports Media and is a fan of all things Syracuse sports.