Cam Schlittler-Tarik Skubal matchup an old school duel of aces

In an era in which starting pitchers are asked to do less than ever before because of the fragility of their high-octane arms and because of bullpens whose values and workloads have ballooned, the days of marquee matchups between two aces are nearly over.But not fully over.Join Post Sports+ for exciting subscriber-only features, including real-time texting with Greg Joyce about the inside buzz on the Yankees.

Cam Schlittler, who owns a 1.62 ERA and is the early front-runner for the American League Cy Young, against Tarik Skubal, who won the award the past two seasons, is the type of on-paper duel that the sport does not see enough, but will be seen Tuesday in The Bronx.“I love when guys match up, sort of old school,” Tigers manager A.J.Hinch said before the series opened Monday.

“Like on a matchup sheet when you look at who’s pitching.The starter is revered, and those are two of the best in the American League and two of the best in baseball.”Two of the best, but effectiveness might be where the comparison ends.There really is no other starter like the righty Schlittler, who relies upon three different fastballs — very hard four-seamers and sinkers and merely hard cutters — to blaze past hitters, who barely have to prepare for anything slower than 95 mph.The lefty Skubal can elevate into the upper 90s with his four-seamer and sinker, too, but his changeup might be his best pitch (an offering that has a 49.3 percent whiff rate this season), and he will lean upon his slider often, too.The approaches are different, but the results have been similar.Skubal steadily improved in each season before breaking through in 2024, when he led the AL with a 2.39 ERA in 31 starts — and followed that up by shaving his ERA to 2.21 in 31 starts last season, becoming the first repeat AL Cy Young winner since Pedro Martinez in 1999-2000.

This year Skubal required surgery to remove a loose body in his elbow in early May, but an innovative procedure allowed him to re...