CLEVELAND – On his way to becoming one of baseball’s best pitchers, Detroit’s unquestioned ace and the AL’s next Cy Young Award winner, Tarik Skubal crossed paths with a veteran pitcher — another lefty — who took him under his wing.
On Monday, Skubal will intersect with Matthew Boyd again.
In one of those full-circle baseball stories seemingly ripped from a movie script, the former Tigers teammates will start against each other in Game 2 of the AL Division Series as Cleveland looks to take a 2-0 lead after shutting out Detroit in the opener.
Skubal vs. Boyd wasn’t on anyone’s bingo card.
“Baseball is incredible,” said Tigers manager A.J. Hinch, who had his own reunion last week in returning to Houston for the wild-card round. “It leads you to sometimes familiar places, and this one is leading us to a familiar face in a really big game against somebody who we all respect and admire.”
It would have been almost unimaginable a Skubal-Boyd matchup would ever take place, let alone on October’s grand stage.
The 33-year-old Boyd’s career was at a crossroads just months ago as he rehabbed from Tommy John surgery last year. His prospects were limited.
“Middle of June, I’m throwing showcases to teams and coaching kids’ Little League games,” Boyd said Sunday, reflecting on his journey.
What happened next was as unexpected as Cleveland’s run to an AL Central title.
Boyd kept pushing, and helped by Skubal’s encouragement from his recovery years earlier from the same elbow procedure, he found a new home with the Guardians, who avoided a tricky trade market and signed him to a one-year contract in June to add depth to a rotation rocked by injuries.
He’s made eight starts since joining Cleveland. His ninth will be against a team he knows better than his current one.
“Amazing,” Boyd said. “I couldn’t write this script.”
Back in 2020, Skubal was an up-and-coming prospect with the Tigers, when the COVID pandemic struck. A wide-eyed rookie, Skubal was looking to find his place in the big leagues when Boyd became sort of a big brother.
Stealing a page from former teammate Justin Verlander’s playbook, Boyd hosted team dinners on the road. Skubal remembers the gatherings helping him and some of the other Tigers players feel connected at a time when isolation was mandated.
“We probably weren’t supposed to be in each other’s rooms,” Skubal said, recalling the restrictions of those times. “He had dinner for us. He’s a great mentor and leader. He means a lot to me.”
They grew close, from teammates to tight friends.
When Skubal struggled during his first two seasons with the Tigers, he often turned to Boyd for guidance. He was always there, and more times than not, what Boyd told Skubal helped.
“He had a lot of advice and a lot of good stuff for me throughout all that,” Skubal said. “That speaks to the guy he is. He’s the nicest guy in the world. I told him that, like, ‘Dude, you should act a little more mad sometimes.’ He’s so nice all the time.”
The consummate teammate, Boyd downplayed his impact on Skubal.
“We’re all trying to make each other better,” he said. “So if there were any ways that I helped Tarik, he helped me equally as much.”
Typical Boyd.
For eight seasons, he was Mr. Detroit. He lived in Michigan during the off-season, raised his family there, immersing himself in the community and becoming an invaluable leader and mentor throughout the clubhouse.
As Detroit rebuilt, Boyd’s steadying presence became invaluable.
Hinch joked Sunday that he was reluctant to say something nice about Boyd the day before facing him. He couldn’t help himself, though.
However, like Skubal, Hinch appreciates what Boyd meant to the Tigers, especially during some lean years for the franchise.
“He was asked to be a huge leader as young pitchers were broken in, as the transition of learning how to be a big leaguer, to learning how to win,” Hinch said. “He was instrumental in pouring some of this foundation.
“And to a man, everybody loves Matt Boyd. He was the opening day starter. I got the chance to name him that. I also had him take a leadership role on these first teams that I had that have the names now we know, Tarik and others, that as a veteran stability piece to a team that desperately needed it.”
Skubal learned the importance of a steady routine from Boyd. Get your rest. Do your preparation. Trust your stuff.
As he put together a stellar resume, leading the league in wins (18), ERA (2.39) and strikeouts (228) this season, Skubal said he got a text from Boyd after every game.
“Always positive things,” Skubal said. “It’s never like, ‘Hey, you looked bad out there.’ Always positive things. He’s such a good person.”
So when Boyd signed with the Guardians, one of the Tigers’ division rivals, Skubal couldn’t help but send his friend a message.
“My first text was that he was a traitor,” Skubal said with a laugh. “Now we’re on this stage. That’s pretty special. It’ll be fun to watch him. But I’m going to be rooting against him pretty heavily.”
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