DetNews: Tigers ready to take their swings in most anticipated season in a decade
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Detroit — They’ve been down this road before, this exact same road, two years in a row, actually.
The Tigers have reached a tantalizing level, good enough to make the playoffs, good enough to win a series, good enough to take fans on a rollicking summer ride, too streaky to win big. They haven’t won their division in 12 years, haven’t reached the World Series in 14 years, haven’t won it all in 42 years.
So what’s next? Well, in baseball, one option is to take a bigger swing.
The Tigers indeed are swinging harder, and perhaps more judiciously. They signed top free-agent starting pitcher Framber Valdez, decorated reliever Kenley Jansen and familiar legend Justin Verlander. They even chose punch over patience and put 21-year-old elite hitting prospect Kevin McGonigle on the Opening Day roster.
“It was all about baseball,” manager AJ Hinch said [after the Tigers made the McGonigle announcement.]
AJ Hinch on the Tigers’ decision to keep Kevin McGonigle: "We are trying to win the World Series.” Mark Taylor, Getty Images
Inarguably, this is the Tigers’ most-anticipated season in a decade or more. They begin Thursday in San Diego, play three more in Arizona, then return for the home opener next Friday against St. Louis. They have a few new faces, lots of familiar faces, and one increasingly strident, unambiguous goal.
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President of baseball operations Scott Harris and Hinch chose to run it back with the same everyday players, and an even stronger pitching staff. The biggest swing was doling out $115 million for Valdez, 32, one of the most durable and dependable starters in baseball. Skubal is the two-time AL Cy Young winner, but rather than offer a monstrous landscape-altering contract, or trade him, the Tigers chose to keep him and ride it out.
The Tigers will ride it out with ace Tarik Skubal in the 2026 season. Robin Buckson, The Detroit News
Prudent, sure. Prudence is never overly exciting, and it would be bad business if they didn’t spend elsewhere. But owner Chris Ilitch took his swings, adding approximately $165 million in payroll, lifting the Tigers from 16th in the majors to eighth. The pitching rotation — Skubal, Valdez, Verlander, Jack Flaherty, Casey Mize — might be top five in all of baseball.
The Tigers aren’t favored to win the World Series (ahem, the Dodgers) or even the A.L. pennant (ahem, the Yankees, Blue Jays and Mariners). But the Tigers are heavy favorites to win the Central, something they haven’t done since 2014, and predictive analytics peg them as an 88-74 team with a 62% chance of making the playoffs. They may be a playoff regular, but they have work to do to become a powerhouse.
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Searching for a winning game plan
The near-historic team slump started mid-July, when the Tigers had a 14-game lead in the Central. They went 18-41 the rest of the way and scrapped for a wild-card spot, one game behind Cleveland.
Hinch saw what we all saw, but was reluctant to belabor it in the moment. This spring, he and his staff preached better command of the strike zone, not reaching for the unreachable.
“I think everyone wants to hit a homer; it’s one of the best feelings in baseball,” Hinch said. “Part of the maturation process for young hitters is realizing it’s one of many ways you can impact winning.”
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Situational hitting has to be better but pitching should be the Tigers’ overwhelming strength, including a deep bullpen with Jansen, Kyle Finnegan, Will Vest and Tyler Holton. That’s partly why Harris and Hinch didn’t feel compelled to shuffle the lineup, which will turn out to be a mistake only if the hitters didn’t learn from the postseason.
“Once we got a taste (of the playoffs), this is how we go about things, this is who we are now, we don’t expect anything less,” said Rogers, with the Tigers since 2019. “Last year was definitely more of a gut punch because people in this clubhouse knew we could’ve made it farther, and in our heads, we should’ve made it farther. Guys took it more personal, which is good.”
It’s good that it hurt, good that players took it personally, good that management made expensive moves to improve their chances. It’s not now or never for the Tigers. But in baseball, you only get so many big swings.
