Tigers' Tarik Skubal confirms he will be one and done for Team USA next month

Chris McCosky, The Detroit News on Feb 23, 2026

Published in Baseball

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LAKELAND, Fla. — Tarik Skubal might be serving two masters in the early part of spring, but there is no confusion about his priority.

“I am trying to do both things,” he said. “I am going to pitch for Team USA (in the World Baseball Classic), but also I understand I really need to be here with these guys and get ready for the season.

“It’s the best of both worlds in that aspect, and I’m grateful that they took me in that capacity.”

Skubal, after pitching two strong innings in his spring debut Monday against the Minnesota Twins at Joker Marchant Stadium, confirmed he would only make one start for Team USA in Miami next month.

“I might stick around for a few games,” Skubal said. “I haven’t determined what games I’m going to watch. If they go to the finals I’m going to try to lobby to go watch and be with the guys. But I’m only going to make one start and then getting back to here.”

Skubal will make another spring start, probably this weekend, before departing for Team USA.

“The whole point of me doing the WBC is to make sure I can stay on the normal workload of a spring training regimen,” he said. “Everything is going to stay the same. I’m not ramping up earlier than I need to. I don’t want that narrative out there. I’m treating it as, I’m going to Team USA, making a start there and then coming back to Lakeland and getting ready to throw opening day.”

Skubal certainly got everything he wanted and needed out of his two innings of work Monday.

“It was actually perfect for the first one,” he said. “If you could’ve scripted that work, it’d be great.”

He got to work out of the stretch the entire first inning after giving up a couple of singles in the eventual 3-0 loss. He had to bear down and make pitches with runners in scoring position. He had to make a fielding play in the second inning. And he threw 31 pitches.

“I got the work in that I needed to get in,” he said.

As for his stuff, he picked up where he left off last October. He ended up with four strikeouts and eight swings and misses on 19 pitches. He ended the first-inning threat by striking out Ryan Jeffers with a 97-mph sinker and Matt Wallner with a 96-mph four-seam fastball.

In a clean second inning, he struck out Emmanuel Rodriguez with a 97-mph four-seamer and Aaron Sabato on a 98-mph heater. He’d hit 98.9 on the pitch before.

“I like where my stuff is from an execution standpoint,” he said. “The shapes are good, too. It’s just about feeling good every fifth or sixth day and stacking good days for the rest of the spring.”

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