CLEVELAND — Here on the shores of Lake Erie, a movie brought fame to superstition, and the film “Major League” gave rise to the Legend of Jobu.
Fictional slugger Pedro Cerrano kept the Voodoo doll in his locker and bestowed upon it offerings of cigars and rum. The Jobu doll so influenced the baseball world that Jobu made his way to the desert town of Kingman, Ariz. For those still seeking supernatural explanation for the Detroit Tigers’ unprecedented run into MLB’s postseason, perhaps the answer can be found duct-taped under Laura Skubal’s bed.
Every spring when her boys were young, the family gathered and watched classic baseball movies. “Major League,” a story about an underdog franchise that runs its way to the playoffs, was a favorite. So one year Laura received her own version of the pagan figurine as a gag gift.
“Don’t talk about the Jobu doll,” Laura said recently, before she proceeded to talk about the Jobu doll.
The doll was in her possession during 2020 and 2021, the years Tarik Skubal debuted in the major leagues and surrendered 44 home runs in his first 39 games. Seeking to cleanse the vibes, Laura searched for a solution.
“I duct-taped it and stuck it under my bed,” Laura said, “to get rid of the bad mojo.”
Jobu’s dark powers were not immediately tamed. Skubal needed flexor tendon surgery in 2022. But since his return last season, he has been the best pitcher in baseball, a reality perhaps best highlighted by his sterling seven scoreless innings Monday in Game 2 of the ALDS. On the back of more Skubal mastery, the Tigers notched an enchanted 3-0 victory against the Cleveland Guardians, an October classic Kerry Carpenter punctuated with a ninth-inning home run off Cleveland closer extraordinaire Emmanuel Clase.
A Tigers team that was nine games under .500 in July is now preparing to host its first home playoff game in a decade. In the days and weeks and months leading up to this moment, observers have twisted their heads and asked: How, exactly, are the Tigers doing this? Many theories have emerged. Perhaps the true answer remains trapped somewhere in Arizona. Fittingly, “Major League” is about the same franchise Laura Skubal’s son just shut down.
“When they needed bats earlier this year,” Laura said, “I thought about pulling it out to unlock it. But then I was like, ‘No, I can’t do it.’”
Pedro Cerrano was the greatest slugger of the 80s. Do not try to debate me on this. pic.twitter.com/Mam1ECz9AG
— Super 70s Sports (@Super70sSports) March 26, 2023
The roars and the fist pumps were unleashed, as usual. This time, though, Tarik Skubal unveiled a new method of celebrating his successes and vanquishing the opposing crowds’ jeers.
“He’s as emotional as you can get at the right time, at the right volume,” manager A.J. Hinch said. “This is what October is built for. He’s built for October, too.”
It was the sixth inning of a nail-biting game. Skubal, the likely winner of the American League Cy Young Award in his age-27 season, had powered his fastball and twirled his changeup in dominating fashion. In a duel against old mentor Matthew Boyd, Skubal appeared to hold the upper hand. Through the first four innings, Cleveland Guardians batters dealt with brutal shadows and twisted themselves into knots against Skubal’s stuff. He struck out seven batters and faced little resistance.
An ace in full bloom, Skubal did not surrender a hit until Josh Naylor doubled in the fifth. After Skubal plunked Jhonkensy Noel, the Guardians soon had two runners on and only one out. But a team that has had so many breaks go its way for the better part of seven weeks had the baseball gods favor them once more. Andrés Giménez grounded into a 4-6-3 double play. Skubal came off the mound with one of his signature exclamations.
“I don’t really know where I was at mentally in those situations, but I probably shouldn’t say bad words with some cameras on me, with kids watching,” Skubal said. “But it was just emotion, raw emotion.”
That fifth-inning display was nothing compared to the sixth, when the Guardians again attempted to stand up to a bullying pitcher who has evolved from ninth-round pick into the league’s best. Again, there were runners on the corners with one out in a scoreless game. That’s when Skubal induced another grounder. Shortstop Trey Sweeney charged the weakly hit ball and shoveled it to Colt Keith. Keith, the sturdy second baseman whose defense gradually improved over his rookie year, executed the pivot to perfection. Spencer Torkelson stretched at first to record the Tigers’ fifth double play of this postseason.
On his way off the mound, strutting toward a loud Progressive Field crowd, Skubal spread his arms and wiggled his fingers, as if to say: Bring it on.
“I’ll be honest, I don’t know what that was,” Skubal said. “Never done that before in my life.”
new Skub GIF just dropped pic.twitter.com/ZCqwNCLhyh
— Detroit Tigers (@tigers) October 7, 2024
One inning later, Skubal was done after 92 pitches. He held the Guardians without a run for seven frames. He struck out eight batters and became only the sixth pitcher in MLB history to throw six or more shutout innings in each of his first two career postseason starts. As he stepped into the dugout, his manager greeted him with a handshake and a hug.
“I can’t say enough about Skubal,” Carpenter said. “It’s incredible. His emotion, he’s our leader. Every inning that he goes out there, even if he was getting in trouble today, no one in our dugout thought that he wasn’t going to get out of it.”
For all the Skubal dominance, the Tigers still needed more of their cosmic intervention. In a scoreless game, their lineup had ample opportunities but continued to appear feeble. The team’s gaping flaw — a lineup that lacks consistent punch — was getting exposed on the sport’s postseason stage.
Over the first 17 innings of this series, the Tigers sent 12 batters to the plate with runners in scoring position. They had yet to record a hit in those situations. They had not accumulated a run in any fashion. In the eighth inning of a scoreless tie, they narrowly missed a breakthrough when Steven Kwan dove and snagged a Wenceel Pérez sinking liner that would have brought home a run. The play was ruled a catch on the field. A Tigers challenge failed to overturn a play that was simply too close to call, grass and ball and leather all meeting in the same instant.
In another universe, Tigers fans might have been left debating this play for years to come. But in this world where the Tigers are consistently clutch and compelling, the Kwan play fades to a footnote. For in the ninth inning, facing the game’s best closer and perhaps the closest thing to a challenger for Skubal’s presumptive Cy Young Award, the Tigers tapped into their powers once more. With two outs, light-hitting catcher Jake Rogers took a vicious cutter from Clase.
“That’s nasty,” Rogers said to himself. Then he snuck a single past shortstop.
“I’ve said this all year: If Rog can do it in the 8- or 9-hole, anybody can,” he said.
Trey Sweeney, the rookie trade acquisition, followed with a blooper onto the center field grass. And then a 19th-round pick delivered one of the biggest hits in a generation of Tigers baseball.
In a 2-2 count against Clase, the ferocious lockdown artist who allowed only 14 hits and one home run in two-strike counts all season, Carpenter battled and finally connected on a poorly executed slider. The crowd fell silent and Rogers yelled on third base as Carpenter’s ball climbed into the Ohio evening sky. The blast left the bat at 110.8 mph, the hardest hit Clase has ever surrendered. It landed deep into the seats, a deafening three-run blast that gave the Tigers control.
“The age-old saying of, ‘You can hear a pin drop,’ is real,” Rogers said. “They were rowdy all game, and when you hear that silence it feels incredible.”
The home run was hit by a deeply religious man who, only a few days ago, was highlighting passages in his Bible before a game. “He’s as balanced a human as you’re going to get,” Hinch said, “which allows him to stay grounded in whatever we ask him to do.”
Still anonymous in the broader scope of the league, Carpenter’s .631 slugging percentage against right-handed pitching trailed only Shohei Ohtani and Aaron Judge this season.
“It is special because I don’t know how many runs or home runs (Clase) has given up this year,” Carpenter said, “So I feel like it’s a lot of God’s grace right now. … To do it off of him is special, because he’s literally the best closer in the game for a reason.”
The series heads back to Detroit tied at one game apiece. Call it sorcery or luck, religion or skill. Baseball’s fateful power continues to anoint the Tigers. It does not hurt that they have the best pitcher in the game today.
So dedicated to his postgame routine, Skubal was in the visiting weight room doing arm care when he watched on TV as Carpenter’s ball rocketed into the stands.
“I was on the ground,” Skubal said, “and I think that’s the fastest I’ve ever stood up in my life.”
(Top photo of Tarik Skubal: Jason Miller / Getty Images)
