Skubal: No long-term Tigers offer, focused on '26

Tarik Skubal, as he prepares to make his lone World Baseball Classic start Saturday, addressed his future in Detroit, telling USA Today Sports that he never received a long-term offer from the Tigers this offseason and that there were no negotiations over the arbitration gap that ended with the ace pitcher getting a record deal.

“There is no offer,” Skubal told USA Today Sports, “and there won’t be an offer until the end of the season. … My focus is on playing baseball and winning this year. I’ll deal with the contract stuff at the end of the year, and then we’ll kind of see. And that’s fine. It’s their decision.”

The two-time Cy Young Award winner and the Tigers had a $13 million gap in their arbitration offers, with the left-hander seeking $32 million and Detroit offering $19 million. Skubal won his arbitration hearing in early February, besting the record salary for a player in the arbitration system by $1 million and shattering the previous high mark of $19.9 million for an award from a panel.

By reaching free agency in the next offseason, Skubal is expected to seek a contract of at least $400 million, which would be a record for pitcher.

But Skubal indicated he was moving on from the arbitration hearing and any contract talks and focusing on winning in Detroit this year.

“That’s where my focus is, trying to win a World Series for the city of Detroit, the team that drafted me in 2018,” Skubal said. “The Tigers fans are excited, they’re really invested in this club, and so are we.

“… You can kind of see that a World Series is attainable with the additions that we’ve made. And that’s all you can ask for, is to play on a team with World Series aspirations year in and year out. So it’s going to be a ton of fun this year.”

The Tigers have reached the playoffs the past two seasons, losing in five games in the divisional series each year. Skubal has also won back-to-back American League Cy Young Awards as one of the most dominant pitchers in baseball.

On Saturday, Skubal will make his only start of the WBC when the U.S. team faces Great Britain. Afterward, he will leave the team and return to Tigers training camp but indicated he would look into attending the final in Miami if the Americans make it that far.

“I need to get back to camp and get back to my routine, but I want to go to Miami and just be at those games,” he told USA Today Sports. “… I might just be there and be a cheerleader.”