Largest raise in MLB history: Tarik Skubal beats Tigers in landmark $32M arbitration win

This is a monumental win for two-time American League Cy Young Award winner Tarik Skubal, and one that will resonate throughout Major League Baseball for many seasons to come. According to ESPN’s Jeff Pasan, Skubal had a huge win in salary arbitration, taking home $32 million from the Detroit Tigers for the 2026 season, marking the largest single-year arbitration salary in MLB history after months of failing to come to an agreement.

It is also the largest year-to-year increase for a player through the arbitration process.That was the end of the story after a long-drawn stalemate between player and club. The Tigers filed at $19 million, and Skubal's camp argued that his top-shelf production was worthy of a much bigger number. MLB arbitration rules state that the panel will have only the two numbers presented and cannot compromise. Ultimately, the panel ruled entirely in favor of Skubal, giving the star left-hander a huge win and resetting the market for top-end starters.

Tarik Skubal sets a new standard in arbitration

His $32 million bounty officially obliterates the previously marked territory for arb-eligible players. The previous record was held by outfielder Juan Soto, who made $31 million in arbitration for the 2024 season. In the case of pitchers, the old mark was the $19.75 million salary David Price received from Detroit over a decade ago. Skubal may have blown that ceiling higher than ever.

Also, as important as the magnitude of the raise that Skubal got.

Compared to his 2025 salary of $10.15 million, it equates to an increase of $21.055 million in a single year, by far the largest jump in arbitration history. Until now, the highest raise for a pitcher, $9.6 million, belonged to Jacob deGrom. That number, of course, is dwarfed by the one Skubal posted recently in his last two seasons, which were so dominant.On purely the merit of his on-field prowess, the left-hander made a strong case for himself.

In 2025, he turned in one of the best seasons in recent memory, racking up a brilliant 2.21 ERA with 241 hitters in 195+ innings. And with a pair of Cy Young Awards and then some, Skubal walked into the arbitration hearing with foundational credentials seldom seen from someone still in his pre-free-agency years.

What the ruling means for the Detroit Tigers and MLB

It's a painful outcome for the Tigers. Arbitration has a file-and-try policy at the club; once figures are swapped, it doesn't negotiate.

And that strategy rendered the organization vulnerable to precisely this type of decision. Now, Detroit is giving its ace a mammoth one-year deal as he approaches free agency in his final season before the eventual payday.The ruling is sure to have league-wide ramifications. That will cause agents and players to continue to reference Skubal's case as evidence that arbitration panels are no longer reluctant to reward performance at record levels among the very elite of the sport. Now, a major impetus for teams could be to ink big-name talents to multi-year deals prior to making it this far in the process.