Detroit Tigers star Tarik Skubal has dominated on the mound this season. He is currently the favorite for the Cy Young Award in the American League, and for good reason.

On Tuesday against the Seattle Mariners, Skubal improved his record with another strong performance, pitching six innings, allowing just three hits and one walk, resulting in one earned run.

Nine Mariners batters were mown down, bringing his season total to 180, an MLB record. It was the seventh time this season he recorded at least nine strikeouts in a game.

It was his 14th win of the season and he lowered his ERA to 2.53. All three statistics, along with a .778 winning percentage, are tops in baseball in 2024. His ERA+ (169), FIP (2.64) and K/9 (10.8) are also the best in the major leagues.

Skubal’s performance for the Tigers this season is certainly worthy of awards, but his dominance as a strikeout pitcher throughout his career has catapulted him into an elite league in MLB history.

His final strikeout against Seattle on Tuesday put him at 600 in his career. It was his 96th career start and 99th overall appearance, making him one of the best left-handed strikeout artists the game has ever seen.

This makes Skubal the seventh-fastest left-handed pitcher in MLB history to reach 600 strikeouts. According to Stats Center on X, only Herb Score, Rube Waddell, Frank Tanana, Robbie Ray, Scott Kazmir and Oliver Perez were faster. They did it in 87, 93, 95, 96, 97 and 98 games, respectively.

He also currently ranks fifth in American League history with 600 strikeouts in 100 starts. The Detroit star has one more to go, and if he can strike out at least four New York Yankees this weekend, Skubal will move into fourth place, overtaking James Paxton.

Skubal, who also made the All-Star team for the first time this season, is proving to be the type of elite player the franchise dreams of having as the anchor of their team. The Tigers made the right decision to keep him until the deadline, as he is one of the cornerstones of their success in this rebuild.

Finding a starting pitcher who can perform in every situation is a difficult task, but Detroit has that checked off its rebuilding to-do list because Skubal is expected to help this team break more records in the years to come.