This story was originally published by Dead Spin
A showdown between the heavy favorites for the American League Most Valuable Player Award and the league’s Cy Young Award will make the annual MLB Little League Classic even more special.
The New York Yankees’ Aaron Judge, chasing a Triple Crown, will face Detroit Tigers dominant left-hander Tarik Skubal on Sunday night when the teams meet in Williamsport, Pa.
Thus far, Judge holds the upper hand over Skubal. In 11 career at-bats, Judge has five hits off Skubal, including two doubles and two home runs.
Judge anticipates a memorable night, no matter what he does at the plate. He leads the majors in home runs (44) and RBIs (111) and ranks second to Kansas City’s Bobby Witt Jr. in batting average. Judge is batting .332, while Witt is hitting .351.
“I’m excited,” Judge told MLB.com. “I’ve watched that for so many years now, and I was hoping at some point we’d get a chance to play there. I’ve talked to (Anthony) Rizzo and some other guys who got a chance to play there, and they’ve said it’s a blast, getting time to spend with the kids. You’re playing in a game where most of the audience is Little League kids, and they’re pretty excited. I think it’s going to be a fun show for all of us.”
Skubal (14-4, 2.53 ERA) has won four of his last five starts, and his ERA leads the majors while his win total is tied with Atlanta’s Chris Sale for the lead. Skubal has posted quality outings in eight of his last nine outings, including back-to-back victories over Seattle this month. In those starts, he limited the Mariners to a combined three runs and six hits in 13 innings while notching 18 strikeouts.
Skubal faced the Yankees on May 5, holding them to two runs in six innings while collecting 12 strikeouts in the Tigers’ 5-2 loss. In four career outings against New York, Skubal is 1-2 with a 3.43 ERA.
Like Judge, Skubal is looking forward to the nationally televised showcase.
“It’ll be fun,” Skubal told MLB.com. “Those are games you want to play in. It means you’re a good team. It’ll be a good venue for everybody, our whole organization involved.”
Right-hander Marcus Stroman (8-6, 4.01 ERA) will start for New York on Sunday. Stroman bounced back from his worst outing of the season — a 2 2/3-inning stint in which he allowed seven runs to Toronto — by holding Texas to one run and four hits over five innings last Sunday in an 8-7 victory.
In six career starts against Detroit, Stroman is 2-1 with a 1.74 ERA.
The Tigers recalled the top pick of the 2020 draft, Spencer Torkelson, from Triple-A Toledo on Saturday. Torkelson was banished to the minors for 58 games while he worked on his swing and batting mechanics.
He came back strong, contributing a double and triple in the Tigers’ 4-0 win Saturday. Detroit, which lost the series opener 3-0, has won five of its last six games.
“Tork has done his part to go down and work hard,” manager A.J. Hinch said. “We’ve seen some good with him. We’ve also seen him work through a few things, and we felt like it was necessary to give him some runway here to see those adjustments at this level.”
–Field Level Media
