The Detroit Tigers, which are getting closer to their first central title of the American League since 2014, are expected to visit the Miami Marlins on Friday evening for the start of a series of three games.
Friday, the two teams will present the winners of the Cy Young Award: the left-hander Tarik Skubal (13-4, 2.10 ERA) for Detroit and the right-hander Sandy Alcantara (8-12, 5.67) for Miami.
The Marlins’ first goal player, Eric Wagaman, who went 3-en-4 with three products produced in a 5-0 victory against the Washington Nationals on Thursday, was questioned by the Fanduel Sports Network on the faced of Skubal.
“We will know that he has very good things, and he does what he does for a reason,” said Wagaman. “We will go there and we will face, and we know that Sandy will have his back on the bump.
“It should be a very good game. It should be fun.”
The marlins are on a mini-rleum with consecutive victories. During these matches, Miami launchers recorded 22 stick withdrawals and no walk.
“Walking is something with which we fought at the start of reason,” said Marlins director Clayton McCullough. “We think we have a lot of launchers who have high quality arms and stuff. But it’s not good if you don’t get the ball in the area against the major league strikers.”
Alcantara, which won the National League Cy Young Award in 2022, missed the 2024 season due to Tommy John surgery and had difficulties for 2025. However, he had his first month under 4.25 years in August, in 2-2 to 2.69 MPM. He granted four points in six rounds during his first departure in September, a defeat of 4-2 against the phillies of Philadelphia on Saturday.
The 30 -year -old veteran never faced the tigers.
Detroit enters the series with a magic number of eight to win the title Al Central. Any combination of eight victories and / or losses of Cleveland Guardians would give Detroit the division championship.
Skubal, 28, went 18-4 with an MPM of 2.39 and 228 stick withdrawals during his 2024 breakthrough season, recording a triple pitching crown by exceeding the league in victories, in the time and withdrawal in the stick.
He was even better this season in terms of his time, leading the AL again, and he ranks second in the majors with 222 stick withdrawals.
During his last outing, Skubal launched seven laundry rounds and attracted six while Detroit had shot the Chicago White Sox 6-0 on Saturday.
“He had to fight tonight,” said Tigers manager Aj Hinch. “He didn’t have his best things early. I don’t remember the last time I saw him walking the head striker. He had to go into combat mode.”
Skubal faced the Marlins only once, in a decision without a decision on July 30, 2023. He abandoned four points over six strokes in 4 2/3 rounds in a match, Miami won 6-4.
The tigers were 39-26 after the stars break in 2024 to make a surprise that flows in the playoffs. This year, they were stellar in the first half, going 59-38, but they are only 25-25 years old since the break after a defeat of 9-3 against the host of New York Yankees on Thursday.
Detroit had won the first two games in the series with a combined margin of 23-3 while accumulating 27 strokes. The receiver Dillon Dinger went 6-in-13 in the series, and he dominated the final.
– field level media
