If there’s anyone for whom the numbers tell you to pull after the second time through the order, it's Jack Flaherty v. 2024-25. Maybe if there’s someone you have to skip a game when the bullpen is fresh, it’s Flaherty and not Skubal.
Of course they’re going to skip Skubal for a daytime getaway game that I’ve been planning for weeks to see against the worst team in the American League, since we crush them every game anyway.
Oh, wait …
It’s his turn in the rotation and I have been looking forward for a couple of weeks to going to see him, but of course, the starter for today is listed as TBD, so that probably means a bullpen game on getaway day, damn it.
At the game last night with friends and we noticed that the sponsorship logo was face down during last night’s game, too. The prevailing conjecture was, someone’s check bounced.
I agree with all this, and I still think he believes he can have both, perhaps because he is too mentally ill to see it's not possible, and furthermore, no one would ever have the guts to tell him so.