Tarik Skubal’s plan was always to leave Team USA after one World Baseball Classic start. He wavered but ultimately never changed course. His responsibility to the Tigers meant more to him.
What wasn’t in the blueprint were social media comparisons to Benedict Arnold, the infamous military officer that swapped from the Americans to the British during the Revolutionary War.
Skubal doesn’t think the comparison is fair — he didn’t defect to another team, he was simply prioritizing his other duties.
“It’s just not fair,” Skubal said of the claims, per The Athletic. “But that’s part of the business. It’s part of the game. If they know me, though, on a personal level, and they know what my peers think of me, I don’t think it’s fair to say those things.
“This was always the plan, and as emotional or how much I wanted to (stay), it just didn’t make sense, given the timing,” he added about the reasoning behind his decision.
Skubal added that the criticism he received online didn’t affect his choice, citing they’re “created by people that don’t know me.”
His teammates, though, made a major impact. He mentioned that he talked to many of them to help make his decision, though he ultimately realized it wasn’t feasible to return.
“I was just trying to navigate all that information and then trying to create a plan,” Skubal said. “I just felt like I was trying to do too much. So I just kind of was, like, ‘OK, as bad as I want to do this, as bad as I want to get there and play, this was the plan from the jump.’”
In his lone WBC start versus Great Britain, Skubal pitched three innings and allowed just one run, which came on a Nate Eaton leadoff homer. He struck out five and allowed just one more hit, paving the way for an easy 9-1 U.S. win.
But his ultimate responsibility is to the Tigers, who are vying to make a deep playoff run with one of the best rotations in baseball.
Besides Skubal, who’s won the last two American League Cy Young Awards, Detroit added Framber Valdez and Justin Verlander in the offseason and retained Casey Mize and Jack Flaherty.
If Skubal had decided to stay with Team USA through the WBC final — if it makes it — he would’ve only had nine days between then and his Opening Day start. He did say, however, that if the U.S. does advance that far, he’d try to come back to cheer on his teammates from the bench.
Does that really make him Benedict Arnold? Skubal sure doesn’t think so.