The Los Angeles Dodgers are wrapping up their six-game road trip this weekend with a series against the Detroit Tigers, marking the first time Tarik Skubal faces his former team since being traded at the deadline.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts expects there to be an expression of gratitude toward Skubal from the Tigers organization and fans, but he hopes those formalities are saved until after the left-hander makes his start on Friday.
“I think it will be gratitude, a lot of people that are cheering him on,” Roberts said of the expected reaction to Skubal’s return. “Obviously this is something that was not his doing. He did a lot of good things for the city of Detroit, his best friends are still on that ballclub.
“I hope they do the festivities the night after we win on Friday, so the emotion doesn’t get to him and he can just kind of enjoy the welcome back. But yeah, he’s throwing on Friday, so I don’t know how it’s going to go with that whole deal.”
Roberts may not be likely to get his wish but perhaps the Tigers will wait until after Skubal has exited his start to show a message on the video board. The more probable outcome is Detroit welcomes him back with some sort of pregame acknowledgement.
Tarik Skubal embracing Dodgers
One thing that Roberts appreciates about Skubal is how present he has been since joining the Dodgers despite how open the 29-year-old has been about how emotional being traded from the Tigers was.
“I think that whole be where your feet are adage, I think that’s just who he is. Some people that kind of have a hard time letting go, but Tarik is a guy that wherever he’s at, he’s all in. And he’s going to try to engage guys, immerse himself with coaches, with his teammates the best he can,” Roberts said.
“That’s a good trait. Like I said, I’ve only known him a short time but I’m really, really fortunate we got him on our club. Not even just for the pitching, just beyond.”
The Dodgers’ skipper has been very outspoken with his praise of Skubal since he joined the team.
“He’s built differently,” Roberts recently said. “The mind, the body, the focus, the humility, the teammate, the willingness to serve, to help. He puts himself out there. He’s different than any player I’ve ever been around, really. And this is again, it’s a small sample but I’ve dug on him, I got a pretty good gut, this guy is something like I’ve never seen.”
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