MLB News: Tarik Skubal injury, George Springer, AL East race, John Sterling Yankees

Happy Wednesday, everyone. Unless, of course, you’re the Detroit Tigers. The Tigers—who had already lost several pitchers to the IL—are losing their ace, Tarik Skubal, to surgery to remove loose bodies from his elbow. It’s creating a lot of questions for how the Tigers will proceed as the AL Central becomes unexpectedly tight, and it also raises questions about how both the trade deadline and free agency are going to work.

We’ve got more on that below, as well as some updates from all over baseball, so let’s just get right into it.

• Tarik Skubal, a two-time Cy Young winner, is slated to miss 2-3 months for surgery, which is bad news for the Tigers and also for Skubal. Mark Feinsand looks at how this will impact Detroit and Skubal’s free agency.

• Ben Clemens looks at how the tight race in the AL Central will just become harder for the Tigers now that they’ve lost Skubal.

• Kyle Koster explains that the Tigers will once again need to embrace an old technique: pitching chaos.

• Stephanie Apstein thinks the Skubal injury is going to lead to a much more active trade deadline.

• Brian Murphy shares that George Springer has finally made his return to the Blue Jays.

• Zack Meisel talks to superstar batters about which pitchers are their nemesis. (.)