Could Tarik Skubal repeat history?
Detroit Tigers ace Tarik Skubal is pretty good at throwing a baseball.
Scratch that, he's really good at it.
So good, he got an award for it last year.
Okay, joking aside, we all know the skill that the pitcher possesses on the mound, starting this year's All-Star Game for the American League and looking to become baseball's first repeat Cy Young Award winner since Jacob deGrom won the 2018 and 2019 National League prizes while he was with the New York Mets.
And according to CBS Sports' predictions for the second half, it seems that not only will Skubal repeat his award-winning season, but will also repeat another impressive piece of history he accomplished in winning the award last year, the pitching Triple Crown, which is achieved when one pitcher leads his respective league in wins, strikeouts, and earned run average.
Skubal accomplished the feat last year when he posted 18 wins, struck out 228 batters, and logged a 2.39 ERA, becoming the first pitcher to record one since Shane Bieber in 2020, and the first full season pitching Triple Crown in the American League since fellow Tiger Justin Verlander in 2011.
As he sits now, he doesn't lead the American League in any of the three Triple Crown statistics, but is currently second in wins (10), third in strikeouts (153), and tied for second in ERA (2.23), making a repeat of history likely, and if he does find himself leading the AL arms in the three stats, he would become the fifth pitcher in history to accomplish repeat Triple Crown seasons, and the first since "The Rocket" Roger Clemens in the 1997 and 1998 seasons.
Category: Baseball
