LAKELAND, Fla. — The Tigers opened last season by losing 22 of their first 30 games. They played winning baseball (six games over .500) the rest of the way.
Detroit also finished with a 30-46 record against the American League Central, posting a losing record against all four of its division rivals, compared to a 47-39 record against its remaining opponents.
Not to be overlooked, the Tigers went 48-60 in games against right-handed starting pitchers, compared with a 29-25 record against lefties.
As second-year manager A.J. Hinch tries to end a run of five consecutive losing seasons for Detroit, while also taking the team from up-and-comers to playoff contenders, it isn’t difficult to find where the gap can be closed. And Hinch has hammered those points home.
“You’re going to hear me say, ‘Win the game today,’” Hinch said earlier during Spring Training. “That’s the mentality that I live with. We need to set the bar high. We got the feel of winning a little bit, not a lot, and I think we need to continue the same message.
“Why were we bad in our division last year? Just explaining some realities to our team and then explaining those issues. It’s kind of the same thing we did last year. We just have some common experience together that hopefully the message will get through faster.”
What needs to go right?
The Tigers need to establish their offensive identity from the start of the season. They came out of Opening Day last year swinging for the fences and proved very inconsistent offensively. After an 8-22 start, Detroit slowly morphed into Hinch’s desired style, putting the ball in play, posting tough at-bats against tough pitchers, creating run opportunities on the basepaths and playing defense.
The Tigers were shut out nine times last season, but six of those happened within the first 29 games. Seeing Javier Báez build on the line-drive attack he adopted with the Mets late last season would be a good start, but Spencer Torkelson and Riley Greene quickly adapting to big league pitching would help greatly.
Great unknown
Nobody in Tigers camp is saying Torkelson has something to prove. He was the first overall pick in the 2020 Draft for a reason, and even he said in Spring Training that Detroit knew what it was getting.
Torkelson is a right-handed hitter with potentially massive power, but it remains to be seen how quickly that power will translate to the big leagues. He was more of a slasher in Spring Training, spraying doubles around the field and putting up tough at-bats against quality pitching.
The Tigers don’t need Torkelson to fill a spot in the middle of their lineup right away; he’ll probably bat closer to the bottom of the order to begin the season. Still, the better he hits early, the more balanced the lineup looks and the more dangerous Detroit can be offensively.
Team MVP will be …
Yes, Báez is the new star in Detroit, but his all-around play has the potential to transform the Tigers on both sides of the ball.
Defensively, the Tigers have the makings of an everyday infield that can build continuity. Offensively, if Báez can make contact at the rate and quality that he did with the Mets down the stretch last season, he could make Comerica Park his playground. He might not post the numbers he reached during his NL MVP runner-up season with the Cubs in 2018, but he could be the difference-maker Detroit needed all along.
Team Cy Young will be …
The Tigers signed Eduardo Rodriguez in November thinking he can lead their rotation, and Casey Mize is showing all indications of taking the next step in his career.
But Tarik Skubal has arguably been overlooked for the nasty pitcher he was for a good stretch of last season. He averaged 9.9 strikeouts per nine innings without a good chase rate, and he posted a 4.34 ERA despite five starts with three or more home runs allowed. If he can use his five-pitch mix to keep the ball in the park more often and get a few more swings outside of the strike zone, he has the potential to be the best pitcher in Detroit’s rotation.
Bold prediction
Torkelson will become the third rookie in franchise history to hit 30 home runs, joining Rudy York (35 in 1937) and Matt Nokes (32 in ’87). Craig Monroe has the record for a Tigers rookie in the Comerica Park era with 23 homers in 2003.