If the Skubal sweepstakes turn irrational, Seattle might find an even louder upside play hiding in plain sight in Cincinnati.
For weeks, every big-idea Seattle Mariners conversation has funneled back to the same name in Detroit. Tarik Skubal has been the tidy version of the fantasy: a left-handed Cy Young Award winner at the peak of his powers, a true top-of-the-rotation anchor with numbers that fit perfectly inside Seattle’s run-prevention fortress — and, just to sweeten it, a homecoming of sorts for the former Seattle University standout.