The Athletic has live coverage of the 2026 MLB Trade Deadline.SACRAMENTO, Calif. — It was the seventh inning of Saturday’s game when Detroit Tigers players started hearing chatter from fans above the visiting dugout. Tarik Skubal was getting traded.“I pretended it was just some fan talking,” first baseman Spencer Torkelson said. “And in the back of my head, I was like, ‘Ahh, of course.’”After the game, Tigers teammates learned the news was official. They hugged their ace in the clubhouse and told him goodbye.Nine hours later, the Tigers were back at the ballpark for a Sunday matinee against the Athletics.Should we crown the Dodgers following the Skubal trade?Derek VanRiper and Eno Sarris“There’s an element of this that’s a little cold,” manager A.J. Hinch said. “You just got to get back to your routines and get back to playing.”That’s the odd part of the position the Tigers find themselves in. They went on to beat the Athletics 11-0 on Sunday, completing a dominant three-game series sweep. The Tigers are only 2 1/2 games out of a playoff spot, yet they traded their ace.“We know that we’re definitely not out of it,” Torkelson said. “Trading Skubal is just … You got to get a return for the best pitcher in the world when he’s going to be a free agent. It just makes sense from a business standpoint.”As noted earlier Sunday, one person with knowledge of the club’s thinking said the Tigers are not committed to a full-blown sell-off just because they traded Skubal. The Tigers are still interested in winning, despite losing Skubal.But what does that look like? That’s the big question, less than 24 hours before Monday’s 6 p.m. ET trade deadline.It would be a surprise if the Tigers made any clear-cut “buy” moves. If they continue to sell, Casey Mize, Kenley Jansen and Gleyber Torres are all trade candidates.“We still have a pretty good team,” Jansen said. “I don’t know what their mindset is — if they’re selling now or if it’s just only Skubal. I don’t know. I’m not going to let that drive me crazy, I can tell you that.”As the Tigers move forward without Skubal, they have more uncertainty to sift through.“Ironically, we’re as close to the playoff race as we’ve been in recent months, and yet we know exactly what losing a guy like Tarik Skubal means to our clubhouse and our team,” Hinch said. “But the game moves on.”Casey Mize is Detroit’s most interesting trade chipNo Tiger was closer to Skubal than Casey Mize, a fellow 2018 draft pick who was called up to the big leagues on the same day as Skubal in the 2020 COVID-19 season. Mize was a No. 1 pick. He was there for every day of Skubal’s rise from a ninth-round obscurity to the best pitcher in the world.