Last Aug. 10, the Tigers were 55-63 and in fourth place in the American League Central, and their chances of making the postseason were just a bit higher than the times they’d made it there since 2014, which means zero. It was at that point, and pretty much out of nowhere, when A.J. Hinch’s young team suddenly made its stand and turned into one of the best teams in baseball, even in what had been shaping to be another nowhere season in Detroit.
The Tigers had a 33-13 record the rest of the way, earned an AL Wild Card berth in the last week of the regular season, swept the Astros in a Wild Card Series against Hinch’s old team and were finally a win away from the AL Championship Series before their ace, Tarik Skubal, gave up a grand slam to Lane Thomas in Game 5 of the Tigers-Guardians ALDS.
They went that far, that fast, and when it was over, Hinch said, “I have a heartbroken team for all the right reasons.”
Now it turns out that the condition was only temporary -- the loss to the Guardians after being that close to playing for a chance to go to the World Series. Because coming out of Wednesday’s games, the Tigers had the best record in the American League at 19-12. Since they looked out of luck and without much of a chance at October last August, their record is 50-25, a .667 winning percentage. After being swept by the Dodgers to start this season, they’re 19-9.
You never know how these things will go after the kind of heartbreak Hinch spoke of last October. But what has happened with the Tigers and keeps happening is that the beginning of last season looks an awful lot like the way last season ended, and that not much has changed:
They are still young, still talented and might just be getting started, in just about all ways. So this continues to be a great baseball story in a great baseball city, and one where a lot of good things are happening in sports. The Lions have come back and the Pistons are on their way back. The Tigers? By October, in what looks like an American League there for the taking, they might have come all the way back. As they keep moving deeper into this regular season, they are making it kind of official that they were no flash in the pan over the last two months of the 2024 season.
“We’re going to stay disciplined to run the long race,” Hinch said the other day.
His team has done what it is doing and playing the way it has been playing without having done the kind of extreme -- and expensive -- makeover that other top teams did between last season and this. They signed a couple of ex-Yankees, Gleyber Torres and Tommy Kahnle, and both deals have worked out nicely so far. Torres is hitting .273 so far, with three home runs. Kahnle has five saves. They brought back Jack Flaherty, who helped the Dodgers win the World Series.
And it is as if Javier Báez -- seen as a massive free-agent bust after signing a big contract with the Tigers before the 2022 season and coming off what was essentially a lost ’24 season (injuries, .184 batting average in 80 games) -- is trying to restart his career. He hit a grand slam against the Astros on Wednesday, will take a .296 batting average into Anaheim for a weekend series and is helping Hinch out both in the infield and outfield.
“He’s impacting wins and he’s in control of his at-bats,” Hinch said of Báez this week.
Really, though, it is the holdovers from last year’s team who are the foundation of this year’s team. Spencer Torkelson, a No. 1 pick (2020 Draft) who was sent back to Triple-A last June to find his swing, now has eight home runs. Kerry Carpenter has seven, and Riley Greene has six. Zach McKinstry is batting .323.
On top of all that, the Tigers can pitch. Skubal is not only still their ace, but he remains one of the ace pitchers in the game, currently showing an ERA of 2.34. Casey Mize has a 4-1 record with a 2.12 ERA. Flaherty only has one win, but his ERA is 3.34. Jackson Jobe, the 22-year old who got thrown into the postseason a year ago after having pitched just two games in the big leagues, is 2-0 with a 3.38 ERA.
Again: You never know if there will be a carryover from one year to the next, especially when a team comes from the outside the way the Tigers did. The ’24 Mets were 22-33 at the end of May, and then they became one of the best teams in baseball, all the way to Game 6 of the National League Championship Series against the Dodgers. The Tigers made their run later, but got just as hot.
Now they have stayed hot. The famous jazz trumpet player Dizzy Gillespie once famously said, “The professional is the one who can do it again.” The Tigers are doing it again. Not chasing this time. Being chased.