SEATTLE — Only two Tigers left-handed starters have won a winner-take-all postseason game: Hal Newhouser in 1945 World Series Game 7 and Mickey Lolich in ’68 World Series Game 7.
Both won on the road.
Both won on Oct. 10.
Friday night, on the road, on the same date, Tigers lefthander Tarik Skubal takes the ball for the Tigers in a winner-take-all game, the American League Division Series Game 5 against the Mariners.
Newhouser and Lolich each threw shutouts. They faced 38 and 33 batters, respectively. Skubal never has faced more than 31. He has never thrown more than 108 pitches. Tigers manager A.J. Hinch likes to say he has nobody better than Skubal—who does?—so how long Skubal stays in the game will be a key to Game 5.
The Tigers are 0–3 this year against Seattle with Skubal on the mound. He is 0–2 with a 4.58 ERA against the Mariners and 14–4 with a 1.97 ERA against all others.
Here are five keys to Skubal’s game plan as he sees the Mariners for a fourth time, this time with the season on the line.
Tarik Skubal is starting Game 5 of the ALDS for the Tigers, just like he did a year ago.
— Brad Galli (@BradGalli) October 10, 2025
"I'll let you guys create the narrative," he said. "I'm gonna just do what I do best, and that's play baseball." pic.twitter.com/v3MndLmekz
1. Attack hitters
This is classic Skubal. If you’re Seattle, the last thing you do is “wait him out” and “drive up the pitch count.” The Mariners cannot give him strikes because Skubal takes them like nobody in baseball.
Skubal led the majors in throwing strikes (70.3%), first-pitch strikes (71.3%), swing percentage against (54.8%), percentage of 0–2 counts (38.7%) and lowest OBP leading off an inning (.196). He is the most aggressive pitcher in baseball.
2. Use adrenaline
Skubal is a fierce competitor who channels big-game energy into more velocity. After pitching 210 innings this year, he is still throwing harder than ever. His two highest fastball velocity games this year have come in the postseason: AL Wild Card Game 1 (99.1 mph, a career high) and AL Division Series Game 2 (98.1, the ninth highest of his career). His regular-season average was 97.6 mph.
Skubal has thrown 43 pitches this year clocked at 100+ mph. All other left-handed starters combined have four.
READ MORE: The Niche Pitch Overpowering Hitters This MLB Postseason
3. Re-establish the changeup
Skubal’s changeup is the best pitch in baseball as determined by run value. But he’s throwing it less in the postseason. His two starts in 2025 with his lowest changeup usage have both come in the postseason: AL Wild Card Game 1 at 21.5% and ALDS Game 2 at 21.6%.
Skubal Changeup Use, 2025
4. Get the slider down
While throwing fewer changeups, Skubal has almost doubled the use of his slider, his third best pitch, from 12.5% in the regular season to 21.6% in the postseason.
His command of it in ALDS Game 2 was not great. He was leaving it up and glove side, not where he put it during the season:
Skubal Slider Location
5. Keep the ball out of the middle of the plate
Obvious, right? Even someone with great stuff like Skubal gets hurt when he leaves pitches middle/middle, as we saw in Game 2 against Seattle. Out of 97 pitches he threw, he left only three down the middle. Jorge Polanco hit two for home runs. Julio Rodríguez fouled the other down the right-field line.
This should be great theatre. Skubal pitched for Seattle University, the only school to offer him a scholarship out of high school, at Bannerwood Park, just 10 miles from T-Mobile Park, where he starts Friday.
A reigning Cy Young Award winner has the ball in his hands in a winner-take-all game. It’s only the fifth time it has happened in the 30 years of the wild-card era. The most recent game when a reigning Cy winner stepping on such a huge stage worked out well for Detroit.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as The Perfect Tarik Skubal Game Plan to Send the Tigers to the ALCS.
