2024 Detroit Tigers

2024 Detroit Tigers / Franchise: Detroit Tigers / BR Team Page

Record: 86-76, Finished 2nd (t) in AL Central Division (2024 AL) Wild Card

Managed by A.J. Hinch

Coaches: Keith Beauregard, Michael Brdar, Joey Cora, Chris Fetter, Anthony Iapoce, Gary Jones, George Lombard, Robin Lund, Juan Nieves, Ryan Sienko and Lance Zawadzki

Ballpark: Comerica Park

History, Comments, Contributions

At the trading deadline, the 2024 Detroit Tigers were five games below .500 and were sellers, trading away a few veterans like Ps Jack Flaherty and Andrew Chafin, C Carson Kelly and 1B/OF Mark Canha. The idea was to clear playing time for younger players, with a hope of being competitive in 2025. However, to everyone's surprise, the Tigers not only began to play better in August, they were one of the best teams in the majors. They went 17-11 in August, and continued to win at an even higher clip in September. They not only reached .500 but by the beginning of September were outsiders in the wild card race, and three weeks later, on September 22nd, not only moved ahead of the Minnesota Twins, whim they had trailed all season, but also into a tie with the Kansas City Royals, with the two teams being virtually qualified for the postseason. There was still a week to go, however, so things could still change, but it was a major achievement.

The Tigers' major strength was strong starting pitching, even with the trade of Flaherty, who had done very well in his 18 starts (7-5, 2.95). Tarik Skubal was putting up a season worthy of a Cy Young Award, and Casey Mize and Reese Olson had decent ERAs in spite of a losing record, but the Tigers had been working with openers in two of the five spots in the rotation, with Beau Brieske and Tyler Holton getting most of these assignments and pitching very well, with various "bulk men" also making a positive contribution. The epitome of this approach came on September 13th when Brieske, Brant Hurter and Brenan Hanifee managed to keep the Baltimore Orioles hitless through the first eight innings of the game, before Holton gave up a two-out triple to Gunnar Henderson in the bottom of the 9th, but then struck out Anthony Santander to preserve the 1-0 win. Hilton was not in fact the team's primary closer: Jason Foley had taken over that job and was pitching very well in the role.

Some might say that one of the other important reasons for the Tigers' late-season surge was getting rid of SS Javier Baez: he had been one of the least productive regulars in the majors before going on the injured list at the end of August, hitting a paltry .184 in 80 games with an OPS+ of 45. Getting his bat out of the lineup, as well as that of 3B Gio Urshela, who was released around the same time with an OPS+ of 76 in 92 games, removed two anchors from the line-up, providing opportunities for others like rookie SS Trey Sweeney and 3B Jace Jung, who were much more productive then the two men they replaced. Still, it was not a particularly strong line-up, with only LF Riley Greene, who was having a break-out season, and CF Parker Meadows being regulars with an OPS+ above 100. It was really the pitching that was carrying the team. The Tigers clinched a spot in the postseason on September 27th with a 4-1 defeat of the Chicago White Sox, which was incidentally Chicago's 121 st loss of the season, setting the new modern major league record. It was their first postseason berth since 2014.

Awards and Honors

• All-Stars: Riley Greene and Tarik Skubal
• AL Cy Young Award: Tarik Skubal

Further Reading

• Jason Beck: "Hurter, Tigers almost complete a historic, 'perfect night': Lefty logs 17 straight outs, Detroit moves 2 1/2 games back in AL WC race", mlb.com, September 13, 2024. [1]
• Jason Beck: "Game-changing HR robbery helps Tigers surge in AL Wild Card race", mlb.com, September 23, 2024. [2]
• Jason Beck: "Tigers overcome odds -- and time -- to clinch 1st playoff berth since 2014", mlb.com, September 28, 2024. [3]
• Jason Beck: "Tigers thrilled with magical run, but don't expect them to be content", mlb.com, October 14, 2024. [4]
• David Brandt (Associated Press): "An improbable late-season surge from the Detroit Tigers has them fighting for a playoff spot", Yahoo! Sports, September 23, 2024. [5]
• Mike Petriello: "How the Tigers got creative to get back in the race: Detroit is riding a two-man rotation to elite run prevention", mlb.com, September 19, 2024. [6]

2024 MLB season by team