Tarik Skubal's brilliant performance in the playoff opener gave the Detroit Tigers renewed life after their September stumbles.

Nobody expected much from Tarik Skubal when the Detroit Tigers called his name in the ninth round of the 2018 MLB Draft. Coming out of Seattle University, the only school to offer him a scholarship, and recovering from Tommy John surgery, the left-hander wasn’t on many scouts’ radars.

Through all the ups and downs of the Tigers’ stretch run that turned a postseason berth from a near-formality to a serious question, they had one of baseball’s most formidable, most consistent factors for a postseason: Tarik Skubal at the top of the rotation.