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MLB If this is Tarik Skubal's last ride in a Tigers uniform, his team is ready to take advantage of that moment. Junfu Han / USA Today Network DETROIT — When Jorge Polanco’s base hit into right field ended a 15-inning epic and finished the Detroit Tigers’ season, no one bothered to retrieve the ball. The game was over once the sphere hit green grass, so Kerry Carpenter let it keep rolling. The Mariners partied at home plate and danced on the infield. The Tigers lingered in the dugout for a moment, unsure what to do next. Advertisement That loss in Game 5 of the American League Division Series — a game that lasted 298 minutes, featured 15 pitchers, 22 runners left on base and too many twists and turns to count — marked the end of an exhausting, exhilarating stretch that took the team to the brink and back. In the final days of their season, Tigers players both slammed bats and puffed victory cigars. They popped champagne and fought back tears. Last season’s Detroit Tigers endured the worst divisional collapse in history, fumbling an AL Central lead that reached 15 1/2 games in July. They went 7-17 in September and did just enough to hold on to a wild-card spot. They beat the Cleveland Guardians in a three-game snakepit series and then came one run, one hit, one turn of fortune away from making the ALCS. “I know we turned a couple double plays to get out of some situations, but it’s kind of a blur, ” Carpenter said, looking back on the night of Game 5. “I felt like there were 20 different innings where we could have won or they could have won. ” Last season’s collapse was as maddening as the 15-inning game was heartbreaking. Before one of those playoff contests against the Mariners, Tigers manager A. J. Hinch received a text from Kirk Gibson, who still works as a special assistant for the Tigers. You’re battle-tested, Gibson wrote. That point stands all these months later, as the Tigers prepare to embark on a new venture. What was once a young team is now a year older. A club that once profiled as gritty underdogs is now among the game’s hunted. All the energy and elation, agony and anguish? The Tigers hope it was a training ground for what comes next. “You can feel the expectations rise, ” right-hander Jack Flaherty said. “(Tarik Skubal) winning the last two Cy Youngs, I came in here and it was all about what he could be, what he could be, what he could be, and then he did it for two years. I got to watch it up close and in person. What Riley Greene could be, Tork, Carp, all these guys, what they could be. … And then you do it, and the expectations rise a little bit, and that’s where it gets really fun because you’ve got teams chasing you instead of it being the other way around. ” Advertisement One morning this spring, 14 players and staff members gathered behind a bullpen mound in Lakeland, Fla. As catcher Dillon Dingler got down in his catching stance, Hinch squatted and leaned against a fence off to the side. There on the mound was the main attraction, a living legend in a No. 35 jersey. “Did that cut? ” Justin Verlander yelled to Dingler after one pitch. After nearly every ball that left Verlander’s hand, the pitcher sought feedback. The bullpen session went on for almost 30 minutes. Players eventually stopped spectating and went about their work. Even Hinch left to attend to other matters. “Looked good, ” someone yelled after the bullpen finally ended. “Took 30 minutes. ” “Fair enough, ” Verlander said. “You mean no one does that anymore? ” If you want a symbol of the Tigers’ return to the spotlight, look no further than Verlander back in Detroit, meticulous and locked-in as ever. When the Tigers traded Verlander to the Astros in 2017, it marked the point of no return in what turned into a long and turbulent rebuild.  But as the Tigers sought pitching this winter, president of baseball operations Scott Harris began making a pitch to team CEO and chairman Chris Ilitch. Harris was deep in making a case for why the Tigers should sign left-hander Framber Valdez, but they’d had previous discussions about Verlander. Ilitch interjected. “Scott, ” he said. “What if we signed both? ” Harris, per Ilitch’s account, replied: “Hold on, I have more to my presentation. ” The Tigers signed Valdez, arguably the best pitcher on the market, to a three-year, $115 million deal. Days later, with talented right-hander Reese Olson set for shoulder surgery, they signed Verlander to fortify their rotation. For all their success the past two years — overcoming historic odds to make the playoffs in 2024, then weathering an unprecedented collapse to reach the postseason in 2025 — the Tigers have not won the American League Central since 2014. They have not touted themselves as true World Series contenders since the days when Verlander was the ace and the lineup was loaded with stars. Advertisement At the news conference when Verlander signed, the 43-year-old talked of the expectations returning to Detroit. “You come into spring training and you have that feeling like, ‘Hey, we can win it all, ’” Verlander said. “The game has changed a lot, and there’s a lot of teams that don’t have that luxury when they step into the locker room in spring training. So that’s not something to shy away from. I think that’s something to embrace. We have a great ball club and I embrace that and want to win (a World Series). ” This year’s Tigers boast a formidable rotation. The biggest questions surround an offense that finished 11th in run scoring last season — a respectable ranking given the desolate second-half flounder. Only three teams last season had more plate appearances from hitters age 25 or younger. “We absolutely have to get better, but I think the general characterizations of this offense aren’t all that fitting given what they actually achieved last year, ” Harris said at the start of spring. There are still questions to answer. In 2025, the Tigers struck out more than every team except the Nationals and Athletics. The Tigers signed future Hall of Fame pitchers in Verlander and closer Kenley Jansen but did not add a single position player on a major-league deal. The front office is banking on strides from coveted young players such as Riley Greene and Colt Keith to propel the team ahead. It helps that Kevin Mc Gonigle, the talk of spring and the No. 2 prospect in all of baseball, will make the Opening Day roster, adding new talent to such a familiar core. “One of the benefits of bringing back primarily the same position player group, the majority of the pitching staff, is that common bond of making those playoff runs together, ” Hinch said. “The guys who we brought in who are new have résumés, as well. The understanding of what it takes to run the entire race of the season is hard to comprehend until you’ve done it. ” Advertisement The vibe all spring was one of confidence and enthusiasm. A young team is starting to feel all grown up. “It’s a lot different now, ” Greene said. “I feel like we’re in a different headspace. We all want to go back (to the postseason) now that we got a taste of it. ” You cannot talk about the Tigers without addressing the ace in the room. Overlooked in high school, injured in college, underrated nationally as he began his ascent in the major leagues, Tarik Skubal is now the center of attention, coming off two consecutive Cy Young Awards and entering his final season before free agency. Skubal’s offseason started with trade rumors the team never shut down. But rather than trade Skubal, the Tigers added Valdez and Verlander and bolstered the cast around him. They also navigated a complicated arbitration hearing, where Skubal was eventually awarded a record $32 million after the Tigers filed at only $19 million. The drama was supposed to be over the day Skubal arrived for spring training. The numbers in his bank account are bigger and his watches are nicer, but Skubal’s open personality had stayed completely the same. Turns out, though, the scrutiny around him had only just begun. Skubal ended up at the crux of World Baseball Classic debate. Over the winter, Team USA proudly promoted the fact that it boasted players such as Aaron Judge, Paul Skenes and Skubal on its roster. Then, in spring training, Skubal revealed he was only going to make one start with Team USA, a pool play matchup against Great Britain. “That was the communication I had with those guys, ” Skubal said in camp. “‘Hey, listen, there’s some risk. ’ Obviously, I’m trying to do both things, trying to pitch for Team USA, but I understand the need to be here with these guys and get ready for the season. I think it’s kind of the best of both worlds in that aspect, and I’m grateful (Team USA) took me in that capacity. ” Advertisement In a contract year, and playing on a team with World Series aspirations, Skubal did more than many in his shoes would have by pitching in the WBC at all. But his detractors grew larger after Skubal’s WBC outing, when he wavered on his decision and admitted he wanted to pitch in the WBC again. After more back and forth — and conversations with the Tigers and agent Scott Boras — Skubal opted to return to spring training and continue his normal routine and pitching schedule. Then he drove through a rainstorm to Miami, where he watched Team USA’s final two games from the dugout, unavailable to pitch. Criticism from the public eventually reached a fever pitch. He was called Benedict Arnold, cast by some fans as selfish, worried about his upcoming payday more than helping his country win. Welcome to life in the spotlight. “I don’t even know what normal is with Tarik anymore because of the attention he gets, ” Hinch said. “It’s going to quickly shift to the magnitude of Opening Day, then there’s going to be the reaction on every start that he makes and everything that surrounds it. … Every city we go to, somebody is going to have a question about the season, his last start or free agency. Hopefully we can get the last of that to be kicked to the offseason, because it doesn’t change between now and then. I’m here to help him stay focused on the job at hand. ” With the latest soap opera over, the hope is Skubal can find some sense of normalcy in the rhythms of the regular season. The Tigers have the best pitcher in the game, and this could be his last season in Detroit. Consider that the chief reason the Tigers are playing with their biggest expectations in more than a decade. Skubal was frustrated with himself after a lackluster final spring start, one where his stuff lacked sharpness and his velocity was down. But after so much turbulence, he had little say about all that has transpired to this point. When it comes to the regular season, his message was resolute. “The WBC stuff, it’s over, ” Skubal said. “I’m ready to play baseball for the Detroit Tigers and try to win a World Series this year. ” Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms Play today's puzzle Cody Stavenhagen is a senior writer covering the Detroit Tigers and Major League Baseball for The Athletic. Previously, he covered Michigan football at The Athletic and Oklahoma football and basketball for the Tulsa World, where he was named APSE Beat Writer of the Year for his circulation group in 2016. He is a native of Amarillo, Texas. Follow Cody on Twitter @Cody Stavenhagen