​Will the good fortunes continue for the Detroit Tigers? That may be the loudest question in MLB this July. Entering Thursday’s series finale with the Athletics, the Tigers sat at 42-50 and sat outside the playoff picture with four games left before the MLB All-Star break. They hold the most intriguing asset at the Aug. 3 trade deadline: left-handed starter Tarik Skubal, in the final year of his contract. The Tigers could peddle Skubal along with other expiring contracts, like right-hander Casey Mize, to net a package that could brighten the club’s long-term outlook, even if it means sacrificing their chances to contend this season.
Yet Detroit’s recent climb is complicating the equation. After spiraling to a 6-22 record in May, which left them staring up at a seemingly insurmountable gap, the Tigers have turned a corner in June and July. Since the start of June, Detroit has gone 20-12, the best record in the American League during that span. If not exactly a miracle run, it’s a meaningful uptick that has the Tigers legitimately positioned to consider more than a full-on rebuild.
In a league where the AL East and the wild-card race have become wide open, Detroit’s path remains feasible with 70 games still to play. Skubal, arguably the most consequential unsettled asset in baseball this summer, is hoping the front office believes in the recent momentum and the team’s overall potential. “Hopefully the decision-makers see that we’re a very good team and it’s not sell at the deadline — it’s add,” Skubal said Tuesday night, after firing five innings of one-run ball with nine strikeouts in a 6-2 win over the Athletics, per WXYT-FM’s Will Burchfield.
Skubal pointed to the mindset within the clubhouse: the belief that Detroit is a legitimately strong squad, even if the current record doesn’t reflect that superiority. “I think we’re a really good team, and there’s so many guys in this room that have proven that we can go on a run like we did in ’24,” he said. He acknowledged that the team’s record matters, that results matter, and that the wins are the ultimate metric, but he also stressed that there are multiple factors not yet visible in the win-loss column that speak to the Tigers’ quality.
The optimism remained steady on Wednesday. After expressing his resolve again before the middle game of the series against Oakland, Skubal emphasized that the team’s faith and belief would endure regardless of the decision-making process ahead. “We just need to win baseball games and make decisions tough on people,” he asserted. “We obviously put ourselves in the spot that we are in, but the faith and belief in this team has never changed and it never will.” He added the hopeful caveat that, when the time comes for executive decisions, those in charge will recognize the truth about Detroit’s competitive potential.
As the trade deadline approaches and the discussion about whether to sell or to buy intensifies, the Tigers must balance the short-term impact of any moves with the long-term trajectory of a team that has begun to show real signs of life after a rough patch. The path forward will hinge on how the front office weighs Skubal’s value in a market that is both saturated with veteran arms and hungry for cost-controlled talent, as well as how Detroit’s recent stretch translates into sustained performance down the stretch.
Ultimately, the question remains: can the Tigers maintain this momentum and push deeper into the standings, or will the potential to cash in on Skubal at the deadline pull them toward a more pronounced rebuild? The answer will shape not only this season’s arc but also the franchise’s direction for years to come. Until then, the Tigers will continue to play with the belief that they are among the better teams in the American League, even if the record doesn’t fully reflect that reality yet.