Tarik Skubal's breakthrough regular season is over and it's going to earn him the A.L. Cy Young Award. But for him, the biggest reward is ahead.

The Tiger lefty has gone wire-to-wire as the AL Cy frontrunner, with only Royal lefty Cole Ragans within hailing distance as we approach the finish line.

Tuesday’s performance lowered Skubal’s ERA to an AL-best 2.39. He also leads the AL in strikeouts (228) and wins (18) as he moves closer to becoming the Tigers’ first Cy Young winner since Max Scherzer in 2013 and the AL’s first pitching triple crown winner over a full season since Justin Verlander in 2011.

Tarik Skubal was at it again on Tuesday, delivering seven more dominant innings (zero runs, two hits, one walk, seven Ks) to help the Cinderella Detroit Tigers

Their opponent is yet to be determined, but it almost doesn’t matter with Skubal on the mound. They’ll have the advantage in Game 1 no matter what.

When the Detroit Tigers clinched a berth in the playoffs on Friday night, it also guaranteed something else: Ace left-hander Tarik Skubal will start Game 1 of the Wild Series on Tuesday. The Tigers still don’t know who they’ll play in the first round of the playoffs,