Behind the Stripes Episode 4: ‘Til the Final Out

Behind the Stripes Episode 4: ‘Til the Final Out

Two and two. Andy hits it high in the air. Third base side foul territory. Ramirez makes the catch. And this is a real race. Cleveland comes in here and sweeps the Tigers. The lead in the Central is three and a half with nine games remaining for the Tigers. September was disappointing for us. I thought it was going to bring out the best in us and it didn’t. High in the air, playable for Proofar and Braves sweep the Tigers. They lose their last four series at home and go winless in their final six. Stunning. But again, it’s a young group that’s playing with expectations for the first time. And to see this group fight through those challenges and come out the other side as a playoff team, that’s something we should be proud of. [Music] What was the collective mindset specifically from like the higher up in the front office going into the the last two road series at Cleveland at Fost? Um, the mindset is it’s right out in front of us. We control our own destiny. We need to win a certain number of games to to punch our ticket to October. And if we do it early enough, we feel like we can line up our pitching and be really dangerous. And fortunately, these guys came through. We won that game on Saturday in Boston. A beautiful September afternoon in Boston, Massachusetts. And it’s win and in for the Detroit Tigers. Tigers an opportunity to clinch their postseason birth today and they’re sending right-hander Kater Montero to the ball. Offers one, two, got him. Swinging strike three. Kater Montero. Three strikeouts in the first inning. Bottom of the second inning. Tigers and Red Sox working with some good pace in this ball game. And here comes the 2-2. Swinging a line drive up the middle. Base hit to center. And the Red Sox will take a one- nothing lead. And the nine hitter Nick Sogard with an RBI single. Vontra settles in. Third base side of the rubber. Deals on the 01. Swing and a liner into shallow left. Bayz. Harvey Bayz. Are you kidding me? A leaping Superman dive in shallow left. His back to the infield and Javi reeled it in. That’s unbelievable. partner. Tigers trailing the Red Sox one to nothing here in the top of the fifth. Bobby Jamai Jones coming into the day 13 for 31 in the month of September hitting 419. Three homers roped into left field. Base hit. Dingler scores. Here comes Bayas. The throw to the plate. Not in time. In second base goes Jamai Jones. He pumps his fist at the Tigers dugout and the Tigers take a two to one lead on the Red Sox here in the fifth inning. That’s exactly what Jamai Jones did. He fought the urge to do too much. Got a change up he could handle. Smashes it through the left side. Jamai Jones looked at that dugout and gives him the bone song. Big two-run single right there from JM. What a clutch piece of hitting from Jamai Jones. Sent it to the bull side and the Tigers lead. We are in the bottom of the ninth inning and the Tigers they have called upon will best arm today one for three. Best deal swinging a ground ball third base charges gloves to first ball game and the Detroit Tigers are headed back to the postseason for the second consecutive year. Congratulations to everybody in the room. A team that stays together is what? Very dangerous. The best time to be dangerous is in October. [Applause] [Music] I can’t feel my face. Oh god. Um, no, it feels great. Honestly, like I said, last year I missed I missed this opportunity to be here and enjoy the postseason, but you know, we we played really good baseball throughout the year and, you know, we we deserve it more than anyone. We’ve been carrying a lot with us over the last month plus, and I think it’s been hard. I think it’s been taxing. You’re going to, you know, I think you’re going to see a lot of guys, you know, mentally relax and and even physically get a reset by the energy that’s provided by the postseasons. Couldn’t have a better group of guys with me. They don’t know I can’t swim, so you know, I’m drowning over here, but no, I love it. Everything starts over once you uh once you’re playing the bow season. So, we’re going to be ready for it and we’re going to we’re going to come out and fire and it’s going to be a great time. We’re ready. Nothing matters. No stats matters. Nothing matters besides that game and you know that pitch. So, no, we’re ready to go. Hello again, everyone. We are back in Cleveland in the postseason getting ready for game one of the wild card series. This is incredible Bobby. Third straight week Tigers playing the Guardians and for the third straight week it’s going to be a matchup of Gavin Williams and Ter School. Yeah, I I think they’re a pretty, you know, tough group. They never quit. They never quit. They got however many guys, you know, 13 or 14 offensively that are going to be, you know, in this on this roster and and they never quit. I think that makes the game really fun. You know, I think we kind of have the same group, too. So, it should be a pretty cool series. All the extra stuff that comes with being a playoff team, you know, was a first last year pretty easy this year. So, um I see a a a more grounded team and a more balanced team coming into this series than the, you know, the chaos of last year. Tigers won two straight in Houston last year to advance to the DS against the Guardians. This year, the playoff start in Cleveland. Best of three wild card round swinging line drive. base hit into left field just over the outstretch of Arias. Carpenter coming home. The throw will go to second. Tigers take the one- nothing lead in the first. One- nothing Tigers. Bottom of the fourth inning. All right, Ter, you got your run. Another guy with a lot of a swing and miss in his bat. Gabriel Arias at the plate. Crumb ball on a high chop over the mount. Fielded by Scoville. He drops it. Now he’s going to throw home and not in time. Oh, they called it out. Martinez raced around third after the high chopper went over the mound. The throw home was a little high. I think he got the hand in. The Guardians are going to ask for a review. I think that hand got in there. I don’t think there’s any question. After review, the call on the field is overturned. The winner is Kate. Lively crowd in Cleveland. You know, this is really why you play. You you you prepare and the regular season is is fun. And then there’s Friday night crowds, but these crowds are different. And this is why you play the game. This is why I work hard is is to go out there and be in these situations. One time we go to the bottom of the fifth inning. 891 hitters. The one two swinging a miss. Well waves the O2 swinging a miss. He stayed off speed the entire at bat against Austin Hedges and wiped him out with a change up. Eight strikeouts through 18 batters for Trick Scooble. the 2-2 swing and a miss. Got him with a change up down and away. 10th strikeout for Trick Scooble. Ends the sixth. Absolute dog. I mean, I I’m running out of like words to describe it, man. It’s He’s special. Um, and we needed that. Seventh inning, one tie. Tigers and Guardians. About what we expected. History bunts down the first baseline. It’s a good one. Rody Green will score. Tigers take a 2-1 lead. We talked about it before the game just uh you know, hey, hey, it’s open and uh we’re going to take a shot at it. And I know we haven’t done it all year, but just uh make sure you guys are ready ready for the sign and uh ready to do to get it done. We play this game to play in the playoffs. And um I feel like when when you get to do what you’re made to do, uh that’s that’s when you believe that. Derek Scoo has retired nine of the last 10 batters he’s faced, six on strikes. The one two check swing went too far. Fast ball got him. 11 strikeout for Scooble. The one two swing and a miss. Wow. He’s just dealing right now. 12th strikeout. It’s just tripledigit fast ball after tripledigit fast. One two swinging a miss. Got him with 101. Terrick Scoal if that’s the end of his day finishes with an exclamation point. 13th strikeout ends the seventh. I told Trick at the end of the seventh that he had three hitters and that he was going to come out at that point and you know there’s a great presence with him and everything changes the day that he pitches which is which is what should be around an ace. The final line for Terk Scuba. One of the great postseason performances you will see one run on three hits, three walks, 14 strikeouts. Will Best. The crowd on their feet here in Cleveland. Left-handed batter close to the plate. First pitch high pop up. This should do it. Jav Bayz. Riley Green. Bayz calling for it. He makes the catch. Tigers take game one in Cleveland. We’ve experienced, you know, uh a whole entire stadium against us. And uh we just control the control and try to win every single pitch. And we’re not done yet. so much belief in in what we can do and what we can accomplish and uh yeah that’s one win done. Getting ready for the wrap-up of this best of three wild card series winner moves on. The biggest lesson in my experience has been both teams are going to face some adversity at some point during the day and so you’ve got to be able to weather a few punches from the other side and you got to be able to deliver a punch of your own. One- nothing Tigers man at second. Leading off the fourth for Cleveland. 3-2. Ground ball as toys in the right center. Will score. We’re tied at one. Jose Ramirez does it again. Sixth inning. And we are right where we expected to be. A 1-1 game heading to the late innings in Cleveland. Right now the 1-1 highf fly ball left center field deepan back looking up oh gone Dylan Gingler. I feel like the momentum in the series was the biggest thing with the team with the biggest momentum or the most momentum was the one that was going to kind of carry on. So we’re able to flip it right there and then score some runs and kind of be in the driver’s seat a little bit. Strike one should be alive right down the right field line. It’s going to drop for a base hit. Bayz in. Meadows flying around third. He will score. Perez holds it first. Over to third. Carrie Carpenter. Wel Perez doubles home two. Tigers take a 4-1 lead in the seventh. There goes Perez. Line drive. Base hit down the left field line. Carpenter in. Perez around second. He’s heading to third. Throw. Not in time. First pitch line drive. Base hit into right. Perez in to score. Torlson will stop at second base. 61 Tigers are booming in the seventh against Hunter Gatis. I don’t know why in baseball it seems like one good thing happens and then two, three, four, five at bats in a row were exceptional and and we wanted to get even more, you know, greedy and and do more, but it is nice to separate and breathe a little bit. Will Best takes over on the mound. You saw Will Best in game one. He was very good last four outings, Bobby. This is the guy we saw in the first four months. Best sets the one-two ground ball to first base. This will do it. Torlson wakes it up. Makes the play. Tigers win the wild card. It’s on to the division series in Seattle. Let the celebration begin. Our first win of the year was where? Seattle. All right, let’s go back to [Applause] uh it’s a big deal and uh we love playing on the road. I think this stadium prepares us for anything because these fans are just like pretty brutal. We respect them, but at the same time, they sent us home last year and it and it feels good to be able to return the favor. Why does this team seem to thrive in the do or die? [Music] I don’t know. It’s just that’s when the guys come together. Um when your backs are when your backs are against the wall, crazy things happen. You either uh you show up or uh or you get showed up. And today we showed up, which was awesome. Seeing the the reactions on our players faces is something that I’ll uh I’ll I’ll never forget. I’m really proud of them for overcoming the adversity they did and and ultimately knocking out the Guardians and earning us a ticket to Seattle. in Seattle. I’m very happy to be here because the Tigers vanquished division 4 in the first round in Cleveland and man was that a satisfying series win. We’re really looking forward to it. Obviously, we haven’t seen them in over half a season, which is uh refreshing since the amount of times we’ve played the Guardians in the past two weeks. You know, I think we line up good with them. They obviously have have a decent amount of talent and they’ve acquired more guys since we’ve seen them last. So, it’s going to be a lot of fun. I know we’re going to have a good game plan and going to go attack. Carrie Carpenters had done a lot of damage off George Kirby. You got to make sure you don’t make a mistake and make man I left him in one batter too long. Carpenter waiting on the first offering from Kirby on the way. Swinging line right down the right field line. looking the corner. Right field umpire Nate Tomlinson says it’s just strike one. Short cautious lead to Meadows for a second because Crawford’s right behind it. The one two swinging a fly ball right field. This one’s way back. Watch it fly. Harry Carpenter fifth career home run off George Kirby. Carpenter makes the Mariners pay. Tigers take a two-1 lead in the fifth. Being able to be on time for the fastest pitch he could throw, which is like a front hip sinker, you know, that starts at me. And so, uh, I just wanted to be on time with that. And, and usually when I get on time with that, I can see everything else. I just trusted my eyes at that moment and and you know put a good swing on it. Sixth inning. Raphael Montero who did not pitch in the series in Cleveland on the mound protecting a 2-1 lead. The 02 to walk into a rose arena changes the whole inning. Now Julio Rodriguez homerred in the fourth inning on Troy Melton on a high fast ball. The chance of Julio after a quiet start. First pitch line drive. Base hit it in the right field. We’re tied at two. Holton came in and did a really good job. Obviously, Javi makes the acrobatic double play and and we get out of it. But the the intention was uh to squeeze more outs out of Rafi, like more innings, maybe even multiple innings and and best laid plans don’t go that way sometimes in the playoffs and we have to audible. We’re in the 11th inning in a two- two game. You said it’s a pretty good back end of the bullpen. It’s a lot of swing and miss. Zack McKinstry soccer last ground ball up the middle and that will get into center field. A base hit around third. He will score with that’ll throw. Zack McKinstry delivers in the 11. Tigers take a 3-2 lead. You know he’s going to throw 80% two teams and just kind of leaning on that and just uh knowing what was what he was going to throw there and just to try and attack early winning that O pitch is going to be huge. 32 Tigers. to go to the bottom of the 11th innings with a new pitcher Monttero takes over on the mound. Brings up the Tigers old nemesis Josh Naylor. Everybody on their feet here in Seattle. He sets the O2 swing a ground ball to first. Scooped up by Torlson. Left foot on the bag. Tigers win. What a game one. Kater and McKinstry in in different ways have embodied a lot about your team. Um used in a million different roles. How much do you value seeing players like that come through when Yeah, I mean we’re going to need everybody. You know, we are not a team that’s built on on one guy. Although any one of our our guys can be the guy for that night and we’re the sum of the parts team. I mean, we are some we’re going to rely on every single one of our guys. You know, we we use we use our players just randomly enough to keep everybody on their toes. And outside of a couple guys, I I’ll do anything with anybody. And I I love that that about the character of this team. Game one going into a hostile environment, it was really loud in Seattle. Uh we you couldn’t even really hear yourself think. And we went in there and earned um a game one victory, which was really important for us. I think the second moment was game four here in in America. For the second time in a week, the Tigers facing an elimination game. They rose to the challenge last week. Today though, they need to win just to force a game five. Well, these elimination games get on you quickly. It seems like in these short series, if you’re the Tigers, you win or go home. We were down early in that game. And there were some moments, I think, when it was 3 nothing that it it felt like, hey, you know, maybe maybe the end might be near. Our players never felt that. They just kept fighting and they they put together a really exciting rally that that galvanized the fan. Bryce Miller has pitched four stressfree innings. Very hitable pitcher. Two-1 line drive in the left center field. Gap it’s going to drop for base hit. Another bad route by Rose Arena will allow Zack McKinry to score. Dylan Dingler cruises into second with a double. Tigers are on the board trailing three to one. Dingler double you know after one run. We feel really good. You know I think that was the swing the run. we we really need for today and after that we we really get going. Drive base hit down the left field line off the B of Jones. Dingler in Jamai Jones delivers against a lefty again. Tigers trail 3-2. Man does this guy come through. Crowd is into it here at Com Park. The two swing a line shot base hit into center. Tigers going to tie it up. Jones around third by his big turn and hold at first. Three3 game in the fifth. Tigers send eight to the plate and score three. New ball game. We head to the sixth inning in a three-3 game. Riley Green leads off. Gage Spire still on the mouth. Bullpen busy. Green fly ball right center field. This one’s deep. Watch it fly. Gone. Riley Green’s first of the postseason delivers a 43 lead for the Tigers in the sixth. Grumb ball in base hit into right field for McKinstry. Torqulson will score. Throw to the plate way up the line. 5-3 Tigers. McKinstry delivers. Chance of AI. Think about the year that he has had and how far things have come. This crowd behind him. Fly ball left field. It’s Steve. It’s got a chance and it’s gone. A home run, half a day. And I mean, u I never doubted him. He’s he’s an unbelievable person, unbelievable player, and uh that was a big swing. That was that was really cool to watch. What was the reaction like in the dugout? Uh I I forgot, but uh but it was it was pretty exciting. 93 Tigers in the ninth. Will Vest will take over on the mount. Everybody on their feet waving the orange towels, encouraging Will Best Vest to get this final strike. The two swing and a miss. Got him on strikes. We’ve got a game five in Seattle. We knew our season was on the line. This is not the first elimination game that we’ve played this this postseason and and our guys stayed loose and stayed in the game and and came up with some really big pitches and some big swings and you need all of it and you know obviously I know how much this matters to our fan base to our city to our season and you know we’re one more win away from bringing baseball back to America again. sign the first day when Detroit is really freezing, they show up and you know as a now postseason they they they stay with us. So I feel really happy. I know all the guys here feel so proud they came here for us and you know end of the day we play for Detroit and and we want to do everything for them. Game five on the road in Seattle. And Dan, this is the third time the Tigers have been here in the last nine days facing elimination. Everybody on both sides is going to leave it on the field. And whether you’ve played in these or not, every single player, coach, manager knows what’s at stake. You know, I know we’re going to lean heavily on Terra today, but I we’re going to need a lot of guys to do well. At the plate, first pitch, swing a line drive, pace it into center on the run. Rodriguez Bayas around first. He’s heading to second. The throw offline. Didn’t get him. Jav Bayz. What? Great base running. Here we go. The inflection point for both managers. Kirby doesn’t get to face Carpenter a third time. Not with that potential tying run at second. Especially 10 fly ball right field. Rodriguez going back. He’s looking up and it’s gone. A home run. Carpenter delivers. Tworun home run. Tigers take the lead here in the sixth. Incredible. We expected tight low scoring with Scooble on the mound. Kirby on the mound. And we’ve got that. But now Terry Scooble takes the mound in the sixth inning with a 2-1 lead. You know, he’s an emotional leader and we’ve asked a lot out of him all season, but specifically this postseason. You want the ball in his hand and you want him to to to represent your club. Now, Dylan Dingler out to talk about this next at bat with a guy named Cal Raleigh. He’ll be 61 home runs this year at the plate. The two swing and a miss. He got him on strikes. 101 pump of the fast into the glove for TK Scubble. Lets out the primal scream as he leaves the field. You want to know what You want to know what Dylan Dingler told him? Big boy, we’re going after him with three hard fast balls. And that’s exactly what he did. 13 strikeouts, all swinging 101 to end it. We head to the seventh inning. Josh Naylor at the plate. Finan ahead. No balls, two strikes. Ground ball. Base it into right field. Palco will stop at second. Holden ready. Is AJ going to make a move? Yep. Rebound swings and lines it into left field. It’s going to tie the game. Talk about your emotional roller coaster maybe as you’re watching them. Yeah, I was trying to get our assistant GM to eat rally nachos in like the eighth inning. Like that’s that’s how I was watching the game. You know, I I watch it a lot more closely and I’m I’m very familiar with our game plan and what we’re trying to execute there, but I’m right there with our fans in terms of the emotional swing. Two two game, man on, two outs in the bottom of the eighth inning. Swing and a miss. Slider down and away. Rodriguez strikes out. What another strong inning for Will Best. 47,000 on their feet. Bottom of the ninth inning, a deciding game five. We’re tied at two. Got it. Wow. Alan Porter considered it for a moment. It was definitely in the strike zone, but it took a moment. And then Allan Porter stood up, rung them up, and we’re going to extra innings in game five of the Division Series. Two- two game. Tigers have runners at second and third. One out. We’re in the 12th. Infield in tight. As tight as you can be. The strike one shattered back. Ground ball to third. Fielded by Suarez. Throw home and they will get Zack McKinstry. Absolute shattered bat. Base is loaded. Two outs. Righty on righty. The one two. Swinging a fly ball right field. Easy play for Robas. Ian. Makes the catch. Mariners work out a big trouble in the 12. Peter Monter in his second inning of work. The strike one. Town ball up the middle. Fielded by Montero. Throws down the second one. Torres to Torqulson. What a job by Kar Monttero. Pumps his chest. Looks at the dugout. Dug out erupts. Jack Flity to face the Mariners in the bottom of the 14. I don’t think anybody has sat down for the last six innings. Two- two game. We’re in the bottom of the 14. Robas edges off of first. Tolson holding with him. Clarity sets. There goes Robus. Pitch outside. go down to second base and they got him. Another perfect throw from Dingler and again the great tag from JavaZ. Mariners will not challenge. Tommy Kanley takes over in the bottom of the 15th inning. Three and two on Palanco. No place to put him. Big deep breath. Kanley sets 3-2 swing a line drive base it into right. Mariners with it. Crawford in to score. Dugout erupts. Chases down Palanco and the Mariners in 15 innings have ended the Tigers season. Heartbreaking ending but uh an unbelievable baseball game to be a part of. I mean, boys showed a lot of fight, you know. We just played one of the best probably the best winner go home game of of all time in in the history of the game, you know. So, that’s just it’s the game. I mean, there’s a lot to be proud of. The standards a lot higher than than where it’s been and our floor is has been raised and we don’t know what our ceiling is and we’re not satisfied making it to game five of the ALDS. You know, we want we want more. These experiences are only going to help a Troy Melton or Kater or um Parker Zack Ding, you know, catching every inning of the playoffs. There’s u there’s things to build off of this once the sting of the loss and that the abrupt ending of a season, you know, subsides a little bit. We got to be able to hold two thoughts in our head at the same time. The first thought is we just did something that has happened only four other times in over a hundred years in this organization, and that’s make the postseason backto-back years. You got to be proud of that. That’s really hard to do and these guys just did it. And the second thought is, you know, we want to be that team. We want to be that team that’s the last one standing. We want to be that team that gets to come home to a parade in Detroit. And we’re working tirelessly to to make that happen as soon as possible. I think the trend line in this organization is really important and how we’ve done it is really important. We have been focused on a path of development of getting more out of our players and supplementing our players with external additions that can can help us get even better. And what excites me is we’ve done all of that without a single draft pick over the last 3 years getting to the big leagues. We’re entering a new era. To be an elite team, and we were one of the elite teams. To be an elite team, you have to do it all. I can’t only focus this winter on contact. That’s not going to get us where we want to get to because somewhere we have other areas to get better at, but we are not going to be naive and and think that we’re going to run it back and and do this again. It’s hard to get to run the whole race and get through the season and and and and have 87 wins be disappointing. And I’m I’m glad that to some extent that I’m sitting here talking about all that not being good enough. Like what a great accomplishment for us to to reset the bar as to where we’re at and and know that that this city, this fan base, this organization, these players, these coaches can do more. We’re going to work tirelessly to do it. We’re going to take a couple days off, but we are going to get back up at it and try to run that same race and be however many wins more it takes to win this division to advance past the ALDS and bring the World Series to Detroit. [Music]

In this episode of Behind the Stripes, revisit the end of the Tigers 2025 season and their return to the postseason for the second consecutive year. The team was tested in the second half of the season, ultimately securing a place in the postseason. They ventured back to Cleveland for the Wild Card series where they defeated the AL Central Division Champions for a spot in the ALDS. Then it was onto Seattle to face the Mariners, a series that the Tigers took to game five. While the season ended in historic fashion, going 15 innings in the winner take all game, it still feels like just the beginning of a greater journey for the Tigers. Hear from players, Manager A.J. Hinch and President of Baseball Operations Scott Harris to get perspective on the 2025 season as a whole and what to look forward to for next season.

“I have great appreciation for everything we did but we want more and we know that we can do more and achieve higher bars. What a great accomplishment for us to reset the bar as to where we’re at and know that this city, this fan base, this organization, these players and these coaches can do more and we’re going to work tirelessly to do it.” -A.J. Hinch

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