The two-time Cy Young winner said Thursday that he still believes the Tigers can win a World Series and that his preference would be to stay with the team.
“That belief in the team has never changed,” Skubal said before Thursday’s game against the Kansas City Royals. “The whole off-season, I’ve never been more motivated to try to win a World Series for this city… that’s always been the goal, and that will never change unless I’m told I’m on a different team.”
Skubal, 29, is a free agent at the end of the season. He missed 40 games earlier in the season due to elbow surgery but has remained dominant, pitching to a 2.83 ERA, 0.931 WHIP and 98 strikeouts in 14 starts.
The Tigers started the season slowly and were 20-38 at the end of May. Since June 1, the Tigers have had the second-best record in the American League at 26-16, and they enter Thursday 4.5 games back in the wild-card race.
Skubal will next take the mound for the Tigers on Friday against the Royals.
“That stuff is out of my control,” Skubal said of trade rumours. “I’m going to do my best to put our team in position to win a baseball game tomorrow, that’s really all I can ask myself to do.”