DETROIT >> Tarik Skubal was getting ready to start his second year at Seattle University in the fall of 2016. Tommy John surgery would shorten his season that year and if he had any thoughts of one day pitching in the big leagues, let alone the postseason, they were remote.

“Hell no,” he said. “Hell no. That was on a different level. But, here I am.”

Skubal reflected back on the fall of 2016 after the Tigers celebrated their first playoff berth since 2014 Friday night. Still soaked with beer and champagne, his memory went back to that World Series.

“I remember Rajai Davis hitting that home run off Aroldis Chapman,” he said. “I remember there was a rain delay and then the Cubs came back and won the game. First championship in like 50 years or whatever.

“For whatever reason, that’s the one that captivated me when I was in college.”

He paused for a second and perhaps realized the relevance of what seemed to be a random memory.

“That’s a little close to what we got — 1984 was the last year that a World Series was won here,” he said. “We’re looking to rewrite the history books on that, too.”

Skubal’s breakthrough regular season is over. He’s a veritable lock to become the first Tigers’ Cy Young Award winner since Max Scherzer in 2013. He has a chance to become the first pitcher to lead the league in wins (18), ERA (2.39) and strikeouts (228) — the pitcher triple crown — in a full season since Justin Verlander in 2011.

“What’s maybe been lost in the chase a little bit has been Tarik’s consistent dominance,” manager AJ Hinch said. “I’m a baseball enthusiast by nature. I watch more baseball than I probably want to admit, but I didn’t think about that until you put it in front of me.

“And then it’s like, ‘Holy hell, this guy just put on one of the most epic seasons not only in franchise history, but in baseball history, as well.”

Managers across the league, after they had faced Skubal this year, echoed similar raves.

“Fastball at 99, sinker, slider, changeup — he’s probably the best pitcher in the American League right now,” Boston Red Sox manager Alex Cora said on Aug. 31 after Skubal shut his team down for eight innings. “This guy, we saw him in spring training and we knew he was going to have a big year and that was a statement game for him.

“He should probably win the Cy Young.”

He’s going to. But that was nowhere on his mind on Friday. All his focus was on Tuesday and taking the ball in either Baltimore or Houston in Game 1.

“It’s going to be fun,” he said. “That’s the motivation for me to put in the work every offseason and during the season, just to get this opportunity. To be trusted; to have the confidence of AJ (Hinch, manager) and the rest of the guys in the clubhouse means a lot.

“We will see what happens. I’m very excited. It means a lot. It makes everything you do behind the scenes that nobody sees worth it. And it’s only going to make me work harder and be a better version of myself.”

About that behind-the-scenes work. Skubal made a point Friday night to give a hat-tip to the Tigers’ trainers, strength coaches and physical therapists.

“You need to give credit where credit is due,” Skubal said. “Those people, I trust them with everything. It’s the body, right? If I’m taking the ball and I feel healthy, I like my odds.”

Truth is, he didn’t feel that great when he came back from the All-Star Game.

“I was run-down,” he said. “I walked into the trainer’s room and said, ‘Hey guys, I’m not recovering at the rate I was.’ They were like, let’s go. They got their hands on me, made the adjustments and got me right back on the mound.”

Skubal gave credit to trainers Ryne Eubanks, Chris McDonald and Kelly Rhoades, to strength and performance coaches Shane Wallen and Drew Heithoff, medical services director Gwen Keating and massage therapist Janet Swabowski.

“I feel good and the stuff coming out of my hand is about as good as it’s been,” he said. “I like where I’m at.”

He likes where he’s at mentally, too. Part of his challenge this season was to productively channel his raw emotion and his fire and we’ve all been witness to the Skubal roar.

We’ve also been witness to some dugout tantrums the few times things went off the rails for him. He laughed when it was mentioned that he’d curtailed some of that behavior.

“I just think the cameras haven’t caught me,” he said. “In Kansas City I threw a couple of gum buckets. The cameras must not have been on me.”

But Skubal isn’t going to apologize for wearing his emotions on his sleeve.

“I pitch emotionally,” he said. “I feed off of the energy of the fans and off of what is going on in the game. That’s just who I am. I’m not going to change who I am when I’m on the mound. It all comes from the right place.

“I like pitching with energy and emotion. I think our team feeds off it and I feed off these guys, too.”

On Tuesday, Skubal will get to do what he never thought possible when he was a skinny, long-haired, non-prospect at Seattle University in 2016 — pitch in the postseason. A month after that, he will win an award he never thought attainable.

He’d gladly trade the latter for more of the former.

“This is why you play this game, to play in the postseason and hopefully win the big one,” he said. “That’s the most important thing in this game and that’s the most important thing to me.

“I’d like the World Series ring more than the award.”