Column: Ahead of Chicago White Sox series, Detroit Tigers ace Tarik Skubal says a rebuild ‘crushes' a sports town

Chicago Tribune

2 days ago

It wasn't all that long ago that the Chicago White Sox were expected to dominate the American League Central for years, while the Detroit Tigers were everyone's favorite punching bags.
But a baseball team's fortunes can change relatively quickly, and heading into the four-game series this week at Rate Field, the Tigers had the best record in baseball at 39-21, while the Sox were on pace to lose 113 games, after their record-setting 121-loss season of 2024.
You can spend days and weeks theorizing about the downfall of the Sox since their 2021 season, and if you're a Sox fan, you probably have. But the bottom line is that not all rebuilds are alike, and now the Sox are back in another one and hoping to emulate the Tigers' rebuild.
Does Detroit's rise provide hope for the Sox?
'I'm optimistic about the changes we can make because of the people that we have and the plan that's been laid out,' Sox manager Will Venable replied before Monday's opener. 'Certainly there are a lot of teams, including the Tigers, that you can point to that have reestablished themselves and their organizational identity.
'I know people over there in that organization have done a great job. We're hoping to do the same thing over here.'
The Sox continue to insist that things are getting better, despite the losing, based on the pitching prospects and closer games. Maybe. But with a game-time temperature of 84 degrees Monday, they could make a statement by playing well this week against the Tigers, who came in with 10 straight wins on the South Side dating back to Sept. 1, 2023. That was back when Tigers broadcaster Jason Benetti was still happily employed by the Sox, and not the man whose departure ignited the 'Curse of Benetti' rumors.
Times change. But Detroit ace Tarik Skubal, who was on the 2022 Tigers team that lost 96 games, doesn't buy into the whole rebuild concept, even as it appears theirs worked.
'How do I say this the right way?' Skubal told me before the game. 'I don't really believe in the term 'rebuild,' to be honest. Our rebuild was supposed to be five years, and it started in 2017 or whatever. That means we were supposed to have already won by now, and we haven't. So I don't believe in the word.'
Skubal, one of the main reasons for the Tigers' turnaround, won't pitch this series. The Tigers are holding him until next Friday in Detroit, the start of a three-game series against the Cubs, the hottest team in the National League.
Chicago is currently in the Dark Ages when it comes to our professional sports teams, so I talked with Skubal about Detroit's sports renaissance, where the Lions are a Super Bowl contender, the Tigers are a World Series contender, and the Pistons made the playoffs in 2025.
'The Lions kind of led the way, and we had a pretty good season last year and the Pistons this year, and the Red Wings are doing their thing, too,' he said. 'They're on the brink of making a serious run to the playoffs. It's a fun time to be an athlete in Detroit. It's a great sports town.
'When you have a great sports town and you come out and say 'We're rebuilding,' it crushes that town. Now we've finally got the fans to buy back into us, and it took too long — eight years or whatever.
'It's tough for fans. When you're a diehard fan and your team is kind of openly saying we don't want to win, that's not what you want to hear. I play baseball, but I'm a fan of other teams — the (Phoenix) Suns and the Arizona Cardinals — and when a team comes out and openly says we're rebuilding, you don't want to hear that.
'As a Suns fan, we've been through tough times, but now we have an owner that wants to win as badly as the fans do. That's all you can ask for as a fan.'
That owner would be Mat Ishbia, a billionaire who bought the Suns along with his brother, Justin Ishbia, a limited partner in the White Sox. Justin Ishbia is considered next in line to buy the Sox when Chairman Jerry Reinsdorf, or more likely his sons, decide to sell the team.
'Mat has been great for the community,' said Skubal, who grew up in Arizona. 'Obviously the Suns' season was disappointing, but it's good to know they have a plan in place, and that's all you ask for.'
Reinsdorf had a plan, too. It worked until he decided to ignore his general manager, Rick Hahn, and hired his friend, Tony La Russa, as manager over A.J. Hinch, who eventually went to the Tigers. La Russa won in 2021 and then watched things fall apart one year later, leading to Hahn's firing in 2023.
Now it's up to GM Chris Getz to fix things, and Year Two looks a lot like Year One. The Sox desperately need Luis Robert Jr. to wake up so they can trade him, but the .180-hitting center fielder was back in the No. 7 hole for the second straight game.
Did Venable talk to Robert about the move before he made it on Sunday in Baltimore?
'I didn't on this one,' Venable said. 'I didn't think it was that big of a deal. Just kind of two spots (down). I think if you sit back and look at it today, these are the guys in our lineup. We're going to put them in an order that gives us the best chance to win. It's a logical order to me and not one to me that I thought needed an explanation. I don't think Luis is going to look at it as a big deal. It certainly wasn't a big deal to me.'
If Robert dropping down to hit seventh is no longer a big deal on the South Side, it's a sad reflection on the state of the team.
Maybe an eight-year plan is looking a bit optimistic.