DETROIT \u2014 Before Monday\u2019s 4-1 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays, Detroit Tigers manager A.J. Hinch acknowledged this much: That plane ride home had been brutally quiet.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou know why?\u201d he said. \u201cBecause you got swept coming off a really rough road trip.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Tigers had left town after a painful three losses against the Chicago White Sox with their hopes and dreams still intact. Then came a series defeat against the Pittsburgh Pirates, with two home run balls against Kenley Jansen in the ninth of the series finale serving as another microcosm of Detroit\u2019s wobbly season. Here was a team unable to shake its bullpen blues, a club that has fought back from the brink only to again succumb to the same old flaws.<\/p>\n
Then there was another sweep, at the hands of the last-place Kansas Royals. The Tigers flew back in a much different state from how they left.<\/p>\n
So on the first day of a new homestand, Hinch had to sit at a dais and talk about the messy bigger picture. In a year full of wild momentum swings, it\u2019s too easy to treat every series like a football game, so much riding on each win and loss.<\/p>\n
\u201cTen days ago, you\u2019re printing playoff tickets,\u201d Hinch said. \u201cTen days later, I\u2019m getting asked about end-of-season s\u2014. That\u2019s an amazing job I have, isn\u2019t it?\u201d<\/p>\n
Troy Melton on his kick-change and curve mechanics<\/p>\n
Eno Sarris<\/p>\n
In between some of the manager\u2019s more clip-worthy quotes, there were more of his usual \u2014 and not incorrect \u2014 platitudes. For all the emotion and angst around the Tigers, Hinch wants his players to stay locked in on the micro. The first-place Rays loomed in the opposing clubhouse. What happened on the trip does not affect the next game.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve got to hit (Drew) Rasmussen,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019ve got to keep Chandler Simpson off the bases. That\u2019s what I want my dudes to worry about today.\u201d<\/p>\n
Somewhere along the line, there came the quotes and questions about the experience this team has. The 2024 Tigers, that team that overcame 0.2 percent playoff odds to crack the postseason field, have served as a touchstone all year. Even the 2025 Tigers, the team that staved off a monumental late-season collapse, lives on as a fable highlighting the importance of playing the whole schedule.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s been the common refrain. These players have been through fire and water. Perhaps they can claw back into the fight once again.<\/p>\n
These days, though, there\u2019s a problem.<\/p>\n
All that is only halfway true.<\/p>\n
The Tigers\u2019 lineup Monday featured four rookies: Hao-Yu Lee, Kevin McGonigle, Brett Callahan and Max Clark. With Riley Greene, Kerry Carpenter and others still on the injured list, there are only seven players on the active roster who were there the night the 2024 Gritty Tigs celebrated their playoff berth. The Tigers have more players (eight) who are rookies, with scant major-league experience, let alone knowledge of what it takes to pull off a once-in-a-generation comeback.<\/p>\n
Add those players in with newer faces such as Tyler Kinley \u2014 the 35-year-old right-hander the Tigers signed Monday in an attempt to reinforce a bullpen that ranks 11th in ERA but 29th in blown saves and Win Probability Added \u2014 and the team resembles less a playoff contender and more a group reshuffling the cards and again building for the future.<\/p>\n
\u201cLiterally, you have guys walk in \u2026 they don\u2019t even know where the shower is,\u201d Hinch said. \u201cThey don\u2019t even know where the field is, which door goes to the field.\u201d<\/p>\n
What\u2019s most difficult about this is the notion it was never supposed to be this way. These Tigers once seemed built to win in Tarik Skubal\u2019s final year of team control. When the Tigers signed left-hander Framber Valdez to a $115 million deal just before spring training, it seemed like the official symbol the World Series chase was on.<\/p>\n
Instead, Valdez has been among the reasons the Tigers have underachieved.<\/p>\n
In his former life, Valdez was a front-line workhorse who pitched in five straight postseasons. Now, he has a 4.35 ERA on a team that might be down to the last of its nine lives. As of Monday night, the team\u2019s playoff odds were down to 3.5 percent, per FanGraphs. It is four games out of a wild-card spot with six teams to leapfrog.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis team, we\u2019re doing our best to keep fighting,\u201d Valdez said. \u201cWe\u2019re going to keep fighting for the rest of the season.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Tigers, of course, already rallied back from what felt like an insurmountable 16 games under .500 at the end of May. They got as close as one game under and even briefly held the final wild-card spot in a bizarro American League. Now, after Monday\u2019s loss, they have lost nine of 10 and fallen to 61-70 overall.<\/p>\n
Greene, the three-time All-Star who adds underappreciated punch to the Tigers\u2019 lineup, could return from a hamstring injury relatively soon. He has been sorely missed, and injuries have played an outsized role in how the Tigers got here and why the front office chose to trade Skubal and Casey Mize this month.<\/p>\n
But Monday, after another defeat, the clubhouse was quiet again. While Valdez finished his work in the training room, only rookies were around at their lockers. McGonigle\u2019s continued strides in the field, answering the bell on a busy night against a Rays team that didn\u2019t swing-and-miss once in 41 tries against Valdez, was the closest there was to a silver lining.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re giving it 100 percent,\u201d McGonigle said. \u201cI have all the trust in the guys in this clubhouse. Still very, very confident in us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Take a step back, and the truth is clear. Individually, many of these young Tigers have played well and provided fun moments. Collectively, they create a roster that lacks experience and offensive prowess.<\/p>\n
Callahan, a 13th-round pick who was hardly on the radar in spring training, hit fifth in Monday\u2019s game.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have a lot of young kids who are learning on the fly,\u201d Hinch said at one point.<\/p>\n
Hinch at his best can be a charming and convincing speaker. But as he spoke about his team\u2019s youth and its experience, about shutting out the noise but also knowing the reality, you have to wonder whether maybe he wasn\u2019t also trying to convince himself.<\/p>\n
Do the Tigers, here in this new, altered state, really have one more run left in them?<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re wearing it and feeling it because it sucks to go through this roller-coaster ride when it feels like we could be better,\u201d Hinch said. \u201cThat\u2019s why we\u2019re doing the early work. That\u2019s why Riley Greene is busting his tail to get back. \u2026 That\u2019s why (Carpenter) got out of his boot, and he\u2019s starting to walk around. We\u2019ve just got to keep putting one foot in front of the other. We\u2019re grinding. The experience will help that we\u2019ve done it before.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"DETROIT \u2014 Before Monday\u2019s 4-1 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays, Detroit Tigers manager A.J. Hinch acknowledged this…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1022925,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[41],"tags":[1885,1266,62,67,132,68],"class_list":["post-1022924","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-detroit-tigers","tag-mlb","tag-sports","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/117155668340373187","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1022924","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1022924"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1022924\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1022925"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1022924"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1022924"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1022924"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}