The Detroit Tigers put in a good performance against the Tampa Bay Rays on Tuesday afternoon with their star Tarik Skubal as the leader on the mound.

The ace continued his dominance, slicing through the Rays’ lineup like a hot knife through butter. He pitched seven innings, allowing just two hits and one walk, resulting in zero runs and seven strikeouts.

Most importantly, the team won the game 2-1, maintaining its spot in the American League wild-card race. They are tied with the Kansas City Royals and two games ahead of the Minnesota Twins with five games to go.

Skubal’s performance throughout the season is a major reason for the team’s current position.

Tuesday’s appearance was his 18th win of the season, which leads the major leagues. His 228 strikeouts are also the most in baseball, and his 2.39 ERA leads the AL; only Chris Sale of the Atlanta Braves has a lower ERA in the MLB.

This performance has led to Skubal continuing his rise up a historic list.

He has passed Justin Verlander for third place on the team’s single-season ERA list with at least 150 innings pitched. The future Hall of Famer had a 2.40 ERA in 2011, when he won the Cy Young Award and MVP.

When you outperform a player of Verlander’s caliber at anything, you’re accomplishing something special.

According to Chris Brown on X, the only players with lower ERAs than Skuball in 2024 are Mark Fidrych in 1976 at 2.34 and Danny McLain in 1969 at 1.96.

Depending on how the next few games play out, Tuesday night could be his last regular-season start. If the Tigers secure a playoff spot before Sunday’s season finale, it would make sense to hold back their star for Game 1 of the Wild Card Round.

Whether he ends up in the starting lineup again or not, it was a special season for the presumptive AL Cy Young Award favorite. It will go down as one of the best in franchise history as he brought the team to the brink of a historic run to the postseason.