'That’s what we do': Tigers wrap runs-filled road trip atop American League
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DENVER -- The Tigers have been around for a long time. The 2025 season, in fact, is the franchise’s 125th.
In all that time, the club never had a road trip like the one just completed with a doubleheader sweep -- and thereby a three-game series sweep -- of the Rockies at Coors Field on Thursday.
With a 10-2 victory in Game 1 behind a strong six-inning performance by Casey Mize and an 11-1 win in the nightcap, the Tigers finished the trip with a 7-3 record on their longest trek away from Comerica Park this season. The 79 runs they scored on the trip was the second most in franchise history for a trip of 10 games or fewer.
Not only that, they became the first Tigers team to play four consecutive series over which they touched all four time zones in the continental United States. Following a sweep of the Orioles at home, they embarked on a road trip that the team’s pregame notes said “seemingly began during the Eisenhower Administration.”
The fact that Detroit was able to bounce back from an 0-2 start to the trip in Houston, going 7-1 the rest of the way with stops through Anaheim and Denver, and do so with such offensive gusto, is a manifestation of just how well things are going for the team tied for the best record in baseball.
But if you ask the Tigers, they’ll tell you -- that’s who they are.
“This group is tough,” said manager A.J. Hinch. “And we know how to play, we come ready to play. And there’s no excuses, there’s no pouting, there’s no whining about it. We show up ready.”
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The Tigers may be ready, but is the rest of baseball? Detroit upped its record to 25-13, tops in the AL, tied with the Dodgers for best in baseball and the club’s best start through 38 games since 2014 (26-12). It’s also tied with the 2006 pennant-winning team for the second-best start through 38 games since the franchise last won the World Series in 1984. This is the first time the Tigers have at least a share of MLB's best mark in May or later (excluding 2020) since May 23, 2014, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
In the series opener on Wednesday, the bullpen with the lowest ERA in the AL delivered zero after zero to give the offense a chance to break through in an extra-inning victory. On Friday, as the club opens a three-game series at home against the Rangers, reigning AL Cy Young Award winner Tarik Skubal is scheduled to take the mound.
And then there’s the offense, which has scored the most runs in the AL (208), second only to the Cubs (223) in MLB. Thursday’s twin bill marked the first time the Tigers had beaten a team by eight or more runs in each game of a doubleheader since Aug. 30, 1953.
Detroit has scored 42 runs over its past four games, its most in a four-game span since Sept. 1-4, 2011 (43).
“I just feel like we’re really clicking right now,” said Colt Keith, who smashed a 450-foot homer off the second deck in right field in the seventh inning of Game 2. “The clubhouse is great, we’re on the field picking each other up. We’re making plays, doing the things we need to do to win. Nobody’s selfish in this clubhouse.”
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The clubhouse vibe was very apparent to Brewer Hicklen, who was called up from Triple-A Toledo and made his Tigers debut. After he picked up the first hit of his MLB career nearly three years after making his big league debut in May 2022 -- the first of two hits he had in Game 2 -- he was surprised at how excited his new teammates were.
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“It really says a lot about this team,” Hicklen said. “For a guy who just got traded over here a month ago, and I spend two days with these guys and they celebrate me like that.”
What isn’t a surprise to the players in the Tigers’ clubhouse is how well they’re playing.
“I think the only surprise would be how well we persevered through April,” said Mize, who yielded one run on three hits while walking none and striking out eight in Game 1. “We were missing a lot of pieces on the injury side of things. But we have a great belief in each other.”
Leave it to the rookie who has only been with the club a couple of days to sum it up for a group that has been in every time zone in the continental U.S. over the past 11 days and reached the other side as the AL’s best.
“We play with one heartbeat,” Hicklen said, “With one mission. And that’s what we do.”