How to watch this weekend's Twins at Tigers series, with Tarik Skubal on ‘Sunday Night Baseball'

New York Times

a day ago

Entering Friday action, two teams are tied for the best record in baseball. The NL leader is not surprising to anyone — the Los Angeles Dodgers employ four former MVPs and an all-around stacked lineup. From the AL, though … we're all friends with Paws the Tiger now.
The swaggering Detroit Tigers host an increasingly desperate Minnesota Twins squad for a three-game weekend tangle. Rocco Baldelli's club is scrambling to end its nightmare month with something positive, and the visitors will have to face reigning Triple Crown pitcher Tarik Skubal on 'Sunday Night Baseball.'
'Sunday Night Baseball' can also be streamed on ESPN+.
Minnesota went 18-8 in May, yet the team starts this series just 8-16 in June. The Twins are also struggling on the road, arriving at 17-25 despite a mere minus-2 run differential. All this amid Byron Buxton's most active season since 2017. The slugging center fielder has never hit more than 28 home runs in a season, due to a terribly misfortunate injury history. But he's played in 64 of his team's first 81 games, and is on pace for 34 homers and 96 RBIs.
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At the midway mark, the Twins have scored a solid 4.28 runs per game on a .314 OBP (league averages are 4.34 and .315, respectively). The bullpen has been an issue, though, and the rotation is stretched thin with ace Pablo López on ice until at least August. Saturday's starter Bailey Ober has been absolutely destroyed by the long ball — three homers allowed in last outing's implosion versus the Seattle Mariners, and four during a June 12 meltdown to the Texas Rangers. Both of those starts were at home. Yikes.
Less than one year ago, Detroit looked thoroughly unremarkable as sub-.500 trade deadline sellers. Last year's exhilarating playoff push was an all-out stunner, yet it may be remembered as the prelude to this current stretch of Tigers dominance. Under A.J. Hinch, Detroit is in line for its best record of the 21st century and on pace to reach 100 wins — the high-water mark of the Miguel Cabrera era was 95-67.
Javier Báez has magically fought back from the brink of career extinction. Spencer Torkelson, Riley Greene and Dillon Dingler are young hitters with big barrels. Zach McKinstry is electrifying around the bases and leads the AL with eight triples. Above all, Skubal is possessed by some flame-throwing baseball aeon, whittling his ERA down to 2.29 in 16 starts. He's in the 100 percentile for pitching run value, 99 for walk rate and 96 for exit velocity. The vibes are spectacular in a place we now know as 'Skubaltown' — less a physical municipality, more a state of being.
Not for nothing, Saturday's probable Casey Mize has a sub-3 ERA and a strong 7-2 record. His slurve is downright filthy:
Casey Mize, Knee Buckling 82mph Slurve. 🦵 pic.twitter.com/QKSsUF6OQ6
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) June 5, 2025
Fusion lineup (best players to wear both jerseys, since 2000):
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(Photo of Tarik Skubal: Greg Fiume / Getty Images)