Asking playoff-bound Detroit Tigers: How did you do it, and how far can you go?

Detroit Tigers left-hander Tarik Skubal talked about it when no one else would.

Let's go back to Feb. 12, the first day pitchers and catchers reported to spring training in Lakeland, Florida. President of baseball operations Scott Harris and manager A.J. Hinch refused to put postseason expectations on the Tigers ahead of the 2024 season .

But Skubal had a completely different tone.

"The eyes are set on the division," Skubal said, exactly 229 days ago. "Win the division, get in the playoffs, anything can happen."

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Seven months later, Skubal celebrated with his teammates and coaches on the field and in the clubhouse after Friday's 4-1 win at Comerica Park as the Tigers snapped a nine-year postseason drought.

After clinching, Skubal became locked in as the Game 1 starter in the American League wild-card series.

"I think when you put something like that out there, it holds you accountable," Skubal said Friday night, speaking in between beer showers in the clubhouse, "and it gives you a reason to come to work and get better each and every day. You shoot for the stars, and whatever happens, happens. I love this team. We've done it. We're not done yet, but (expletive), this feels good."

Skubal, 27, anchored the Tigers by registering an 18-4 record with a 2.39 ERA, 35 walks and 228 strikeouts across 192 innings in 31 starts, leading the AL in wins, ERA and strikeouts. The first-time All-Star is going to win the AL Cy Young Award in his fifth MLB season, possibly unanimously.

The Tigers had a 21-10 record in Skubal starts.

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Skubal set the bar high with his words and his actions, but not even the best pitcher in the world could've envisioned the Tigers — sellers at the July 30 trade deadline — would be eight games under .500 after Aug. 10, only then to put together a 31-11 run to clinch a postseason berth.

As the Tigers celebrated, I asked some players in the clubhouse the same two questions: How did you do it, and how far can you go?

How did you do it?

Tarik Skubal: "We worried about winning one game at a time, and this is where we are. It's been a ton of fun as a team, as an organization. These guys in this clubhouse have done it. It's fun. It's special."

Riley Greene: "We never stopped believing. We know we had something going here. Belief is a big thing for us, so we never stopped."

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Matt Vierling: "Honestly, I felt like we got on a roll, playing great baseball, started getting some belief in ourselves. It just went from there. What makes it so special is that no one thought it would happen, and here we are."

Jason Foley: "It takes a whole clubhouse of guys to buy-in. It takes all the players, all the staff. It takes a never-give-up mentality, and it takes everyone to buy-in. Everyone chipped in the way they could, and that's why we're here right now."

Beau Brieske: "We believed in each other. We believed in each other, and we never stopped playing. I think you can say that we were the hottest team on this stretch, but I think we were playing the game the hardest. We were playing the game the right way. Everyone was competing as hard as they possibly could, every single game, every single out. I think you just knew it because there was no quit, there was no one that gave up. Everyone knew that if they performed to their ability, we could get to this point."

How far can you go?

Tarik Skubal: "As far as we want. It's up to us. It's going to be fun."

Riley Greene: "We can go as far as it takes us. We're going to keep believing and see what happens."

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Matt Vierling: "We're playing with a lot of confidence right now. When we get down in a game, we still feel like we can come back. A lot of young guys, a lot of guys with some energy. We feel like we can keep going."

Trey Sweeney: "We just got to keep playing, keep playing our baseball. Play one game at a time like we have. We haven't looked ahead. We've just been where our feet are instead of playing the game ahead of us."

Beau Brieske: "If we play our game, we can beat anyone. We can hang with anyone in this league."

Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him @EvanPetzold .

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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Asking playoff-bound Detroit Tigers: How did you do it, and how far can you go?