The Detroit Tigers entered the 2026 season with high hopes. After reaching the ALDS last year, the plan was simple: get back to the postseason and push even deeper. And for a while, everything was clicking. Ace Tarik Skubal was dominating on the mound, and the offense was delivering when it mattered most.

But baseball has a way of throwing curveballs when you least expect them.

At the start of May, the Tigers got the kind of news that can derail a season. Skubal needed surgery to remove loose bodies from his elbow. While he's not expected to miss the entire season—the timeline is roughly two to three months if all goes well—his absence has already sent shockwaves through the clubhouse and the standings.

Without their Cy Young-caliber arm, Detroit has looked lost. They were swept by the Boston Red Sox last week and followed it up by losing a series to the Kansas City Royals over the weekend. The slide has been sharp enough that Bleacher Report's Joel Reuter dropped the Tigers from No. 12 all the way down to No. 22 in his latest power rankings.

Reuter noted that Detroit snapped a five-game losing streak with a 6-3 win over the Royals on Sunday night, but it came in a way that's becoming all too familiar: a bullpen game. Manager A.J. Hinch used six different pitchers, starting with an opener and cycling through arms just to get through nine innings. As Reuter put it, "more nine innings by committee games are likely coming."

That's not exactly the blueprint for a contender. Bullpen games put extra pressure on the manager and the relief corps, forcing Hinch to get creative with matchups and usage. It's a tough spot, but it also gives the Tigers a chance to mix things up and attack opposing lineups from different angles.

For now, Detroit is in survival mode. Every series feels like a test of depth and resilience. And without their ace, the margin for error has never been thinner.