Let’s Run It Back: Tarik Skubal’s Love Letter to Detroit Tigers Baseball
There’s a romance to Detroit Tigers baseball that you can’t quite explain — it’s something you feel deep in your chest, in the way a stadium breathes in unison during a 3-2 count with the bases loaded. It’s in the way summer stretches long and full of possibility, like a 162-chapter love story unfolding one pitch at a time. And here in Detroit, it’s not just a game. It’s a legacy, a lifeline, a fire that never quite goes out — even in the hardest seasons.
Last fall, that fire turned into something more. Something electric.
We saw a team come together, a city start to believe again, and a future being built one hard-fought win at a time. Tarik Skubal captured that perfectly in his open letter to the city — a heartfelt message from the mound, written not just with words but with grit, grind, and gratitude.
“We are all overcoming the odds,” he wrote. “You believe in us, and we all believe in you.”
And we do. We always have.
Detroit Tigers baseball is diferent
Detroit and its baseball team have always shared a kind of symbiotic love — tested by time, but never broken. We’ve cheered through heartbreak. We’ve stood tall through rebuilds. We’ve weathered 100-loss seasons and still showed up the next day, because something about this team keeps calling us back. Maybe it’s the promise of that perfect inning. Or the rookie whose bat cracks open hope again. Maybe it’s just the echo of Ernie Harwell in our ears, reminding us this game — this place — still matters.
Because it does. Especially now.
Skubal talked about resilience — his, the team’s, and Detroit’s. A kid from a small town in Arizona, he saw something in this city that mirrored his own story: underestimated, overlooked, but never out of the fight. “This city is resilient and this team is resilient,” he said. “The adversity we face makes the eventual greatness even more rewarding.”
That greatness is starting to shine through.
Last season, the Tigers turned a 0.2% postseason chance into a full-on chase. You felt it at Comerica — a pulse, a pressure, a promise. Fans showing up not just to watch, but to believe. The outfield chants. The skyline glowing. The unmistakable sound of a bat meeting ball with purpose.
It was more than a turnaround. It was a reminder: Detroit is still here. Our team is still fighting. And we’re building something real.
“This is a sports town and a slept-on city,” Skubal said. “You don’t understand this place or the people in it unless you’ve been here.”
He’s right. And once you do understand it, once you feel what it’s like to high-five a stranger in Section 138 after a clutch double, or to teach your kid how to keep score with a pencil and paper under a summer sky — you’re hooked. Forever.
It’s more than stats and standings. It’s about what the game gives back.
It gives us a reason to gather. To hope. To heal. Whether it’s Opening Day’s eternal optimism or that last gasp of September baseball, every pitch is a memory in the making. Every game is a chapter in the story of us. Just like Ernie reminded us with the “Voice of the Turtle” every spring.
And now, that story feels like it’s reaching a turning point.
We’re not just watching prospects develop anymore. We’re watching leaders emerge. We’re not just hoping for the future — we’re starting to taste it. You can feel it in every Skubal start, every Riley Greene sprint to the gap, every Colt Keith moonshot. The foundation is set. The attitude is shifting. And the hunger? Oh, it’s real.
Tarik Skubal Gets Detroit
“We’re about to clock in like the blue-collar people of this city,” Skubal said. And that’s exactly what this team has done — no flash, no shortcuts, just hard-nosed, honest baseball. The kind Detroit respects. The kind Detroit loves.
So yeah — say what you want about us. About Detroit. About this team.
But we know the truth.
We know what’s coming.
It’s a new era of Detroit Tigers baseball, and it’s about more than winning — it’s about belonging. About being part of something bigger. About seeing a little bit of yourself in every late-inning comeback, every dugout celebration, every roar from the crowd.
This is our team. This is our time. And this year?
This year is going to be special.
So let the world sleep on us. Let the doubters doubt. We’ve got unfinished business, and we’re not backing down.
Let’s run it back, Detroit.
Because we’re just getting started.
