LAKELAND, Fla. -- The Dodgers will get their World Series rings and raise their banner on March 27 before their home opener against the Tigers. Then they’ll get to face Tarik Skubal.

After Skubal’s incredible season in 2024, the announcement that the reigning American League Cy Young Award winner would be Detroit’s Opening Day starter was a formality. Manager A.J. Hinch got it out of the way on Wednesday by announcing it during his in-game interview on the television broadcast.

“Surprise, surprise,” Hinch said after the Tigers’ 4-0 loss to the Twins Wednesday at Joker Marchant Stadium.

But while the decision was easy, the matchup is not.

Skubal against a Dodgers lineup that could feature a reigning MVP and two former ones batting back-to-back-to-back? And on a national television broadcast? Bring it.

“You get to face the reigning champs on Day 1,” said Skubal, his mighty left arm holding his 1-year-old son Kasen, after his first outing of the spring Wednesday. “You see how their offseason was and you see that lineup, it’ll be fun. And in their home park, too. I’m looking forward to the challenge.

“You don’t know how many Opening Days you’re going to start in your career. It’s an honor to be able to start two of them.”

If that seems like a challenge, consider the task of the Twins, who rode a bus nearly three hours from Fort Myers to Lakeland to face Skubal in his first performance of 2025.

Skubal’s ninth pitch of his Spring Training opener was a 100.1 mph fastball to Jair Camargo, who had stepped out of the batter’s box to call timeout moments earlier as Skubal was beginning his delivery. The triple-digit heater was up and out of the zone for ball two, but it set up the 90 mph slider that sent Camargo flailing for strike three to end a 1-2-3 opening inning.

“I thought it was a little late, but whatever,” Skubal said of the timeout. “You get a little competitive juices, too. So then the next pitch, you throw as hard as you can.”

Said Hinch: “No matter who you are, or how well you’ve done, there’s the adrenaline of the first time. He threw obviously some really good pitches.”

The Twins had better looks and solid contact on Skubal in a nine-pitch second inning, including an opposite-field line drive from Jose Miranda for a leadoff single off an 0-2 fastball at 99 mph. Wenceel Pérez ran down hard-hit line drives from Brooks Lee and Austin Martin on consecutive pitches before Mike Ford popped out to short to close out Skubal’s afternoon at 19 pitches (14 strikes).

“I wish I threw a little bit more pitches,” Skubal said. “But other than that, it was a good day. I threw a ton of strikes, got ahead, early contact. I think those were all good things. And I worked the second inning out of the stretch. So I thought it was a good day.”

Skubal’s reprisal of his Opening Day role follows a decade-long pattern: He’ll be the fifth consecutive Tigers pitcher to start back-to-back season openers, joining Eduardo Rodriguez (2022-23), Matthew Boyd (‘20-21), Jordan Zimmermann (‘18-19) and Justin Verlander (‘16-17). No Tigers pitcher has started three consecutive Opening Days since Verlander’s run of seven in a row from ‘08-14.

“That [decision] was pretty obvious, but also cool that he gets to do it back to back,” Hinch said. “We’ve lined him up since Day 1.”