The Detroit Tigers’ manager revealed the news to the entire team in the clubhouse during a…
The Detroit Tigers’ manager, A.J. Hinch, revealed the news to the entire team in the clubhouse during a meeting before Friday’s spring training game: Tarik Skubal has been chosen as the Tigers’ Opening Day starter.
Hinch set the stage for the announcement by mentioning that he was about to take a step he hadn’t taken before, prompting Skubal to anticipate something significant, particularly related to Opening Day.
Skubal expressed his reaction, saying, “My heart dropped.”
In response to the announcement, his teammates erupted in cheers.
Hinch explained the timing, stating, “I did it today because we play real games in March. We don’t expect perfection from the outset of spring, and we haven’t had it, but we do need to see progress. While we’ve observed improvement from many players, I wanted to emphasize that we play games in March, so there’s no better time than today to make this announcement in front of his teammates.”
