Tarik Skubal Expects 'Emotional' Return in 1st Game vs. Tigers Since Dodgers Trade

For the first time since being traded, Tarik Skubal will go up against his former team as the Los Angeles Dodgers host the Detroit Tigers this weekend.

Skubal said the matchup "will be emotional there just because of the history."

"We'll see, right?" Skubal told SI.com on Wednesday (h/t Charles Odum of the Associated Press). "The whole process was emotional. I have a lot of respect for those guys over there. I'm just going to go play baseball."

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The Tigers traded their ace ahead of the deadline in return for outfielder Zyhir Hope, right-handed pitcher River Ryan and right-handed pitcher Brady Smith. It ended his six-and-a-half-year run with the team, during which he won a pair of Cy Young Awards.

His future with the Tigers was in limbo for much of the last two years as he and Detroit continued to be far apart on a contract, so the trade didn't come as all that much of a surprise.

Still, leaving the organization that drafted him comes with a great deal of emotions, but he also has a job to do as he starts for the Dodgers, who are eyeing the top position in the National League.

"But at the end of the day, I've got to go play baseball," Skubal said. "I've got to compete and do what I do well, what makes me a good pitcher. I'll probably handle the emotions after."