The Comedic Downfall of The 2025 Detroit Tigers

This Detroit Tigers season was the tale of two halves. A first half that looked like the Tigers had a real chance to go out and win the American League pennant and then a second half where it looked like they might go from the one seed to missing October entirely. Their 15-ining marathon last night perfectly summed up their season on all levels. Don’t forget this Tigers team had a 15.5game lead in the division and were easily the one seed in the American League. And that was just an omen of what was to come. If they were the one seed and they had homefield advantage, maybe they would have won in game five. They did win both home games that they played and they got worn down in the wildard round in those three games as well. If they had gotten a buy, who knows, maybe they would have been able to win this game. but they didn’t because they fell off in the second half of the season. However, while all of this is very negative so far, they’re still a very, very good team going forward in my opinion. They still have Trick Scooble and of course, he’s one of the best players in baseball. However, Trick is one of the big fears that I have with this organization. He’s going to get $400 million easily, in my opinion, on the open market, and this is coming soon. This is the last year that the Tigers have Scooble under contract. Can Detroit pay that $400 million contract? Maybe. But will they? Maybe again, I really don’t know. Scoo should be top five in MVP voting this year. He’s one of the most valuable players in all of Major League Baseball. Not just the American League, not just the Tigers, all of baseball. This guy was a monster this year. He’s going to win his second straight Sai Young and he’s debatably the best pitcher in the league. And if not one, he’s two behind Paul Ske. If they do keep him, this team is set up very well on long-term success. However, if they don’t keep him, they’re not that special. So, you have to wonder, do you trade him this year and get a ridiculous prospect package? You might be able to get two or three top 100 pitching prospects from a team. Teams like the Boston Red Sox have Connelly Early, Payton Tolley, Brandon Clark. All of those guys are top 100 pitching prospects. Do you try to package something like that together for Scubble and really set yourself up for the future? Or do you try one more year with him, try to win in 2026, and then let him walk in free agency? Or this off season, do you fork over $450 million and keep him in Detroit for the next decade? Personally, that’s the route I would go. Normally, if you look at teams that win in October, they have a true ace. And obviously, Scooble being the second best pitcher in baseball is a true ace. They’re very difficult to find. It’s extremely challenging to find a workhorse that can perform in October. And because Detroit has, I would keep him personally, but I don’t know if that sticks into the budget that Detroit is going to be building with. And by the way, if your team is still in the playoffs or has been eliminated or didn’t make the playoffs, I’m going to need you to subscribe to the channel because only 4% of my viewers are subscribed and I’m trying to hit 25K by the end of the year. So, subscribe. Now, this season, they lost at the trade deadline in my opinion. They didn’t get the big fish when their season was falling apart. They thought that they would be able to coast at the top of the AL Central and then hopefully go on a run in October. So all they really added was Charlie Morton and Kyle Finnegan. And that was not enough. They were rumored to be in on Auinio Suarez. They were rumored to be in on other guys as well, but they didn’t go out and get those guys. Suarez is on the team that just eliminated them. He wasn’t good in this series whatsoever. But it’s still just the point that they didn’t go out and get firepower where the Mariners did. And even though the Tigers were better in the first half of the season than Seattle, Seattle got better at the deadline and the Tigers kind of just stayed the same. They didn’t even have Charlie Morton in the postseason. They DFA him. They also really needed to get a true backend reliever or two. And they got some, but they weren’t going to move the needle. Kyle Finnegan is really nothing to me. Like he’s not a very good pitcher. And again, that’s same with their third starting pitcher. They needed another big guy in the rotation to go with Casey Mai in Trick Scooble. Jack Flity is okay, I guess, but he’s not really good. And again, Charlie Morton and Chris Paddock, that just wasn’t it. That wasn’t enough to move the needle. In 2026, there’s a fairly weak free agency class for the Detroit Tigers, which is great for them. Kyle Finnegan, Chris Paddock, Raphael Montero, and Tommy Canley. Actually, that’s a huge portion of the bullpen that is leaving, but none of those guys are particularly great. They could replace them pretty easily with some mid-le relievers, but Glaver Torres is a free agent as well. They have to bring him back because he was really, really good for the Tigers in 2025. They also lost their season in free agency last year. Now that I’m thinking about it, Alex Bregman was right there and he was heavily rumored to go to the Tigers, but they didn’t pull the trigger and they didn’t make the big offer that they had to. And because of that, they didn’t have enough firepower and lost by only scoring two runs in 15 innings. In 2027, the Tigers have Casey Mai and TK Scubble as free agents. They have to find a way to win in 2026. There are no excuses when your starting pitcher one and two are free agents in the following season. You need to win this year. And that’s the reality of the Tigers. Maybe they go after Alex Bregman again if he does opt out of his contract, which is seeming very likely. But I don’t know because their contract situation isn’t great. There’s lots of guys going into arbitration this year. So arbitration costs are going to be even higher than they were in 2025. Scooble is projected 23 million. Casey Mai and Spencer Tolson are projected 10 million combined. Riley Green, Zack McKinstry, and Carrie Carpenter are each projected $4 million each, which that’s a great steal for them, obviously, cuz all of those players are very, very good. Next year, their contracts are going to go up way more. And again, that’s 2027 where they might not have Scooble or Mai. So, they really have to win this season. The payroll is sitting at a projected 129 million with Jack Flity on his player option and 109 without. Jack Flity said he’s not sure if he’s going to opt in or out of his contract. Personally, I think he should because he’s not that good and 20 million is a lot of money. But either way, this payroll is already pretty high because the last time the Tigers spent over $145 million was 2017. They don’t operate like a high market team and I think that the Tigers really have to go out and get their payroll closer to 200 million. But are they going to do that? I don’t know. I don’t think that they’ve ever spent $200 million on their payroll ever. So that’s a big ask for them, but they have to do it if they’re going to compete with the American League. Teams like the Red Sox, Yankees, Astros, Blue Jays, these teams are all in the American League. They’re all going to spend money. So, if you want to compete with them, you’re going to have to spend money as well. The pieces are in place for the Tigers, especially in the rotation and the offense. In the bullpen, the pieces really are not in place. Will Vest is good, but that’s kind of about it. I guess Tyler Holton is also good, but whatever. Their bullpen is not good. They have to add to that really badly. And again, I think the offense should be solid in 2026 again, but I still think that they need that extra bat. and Alex Bregman. They also have to bring back Labor Torres. If they could find a way to get a Pete Alonzo or a Kyle Schwarber and make it work in the offense, I think that would do wonders for them. Of course, I think they need a little bit more power. Pete Alonzo would actually be such a good fit even though they have Torqulson. So, maybe positionally it’s not a great fit, but that kind of power bat, they really really need a little bit more power, but Alex Bregman is just as good of a fit to keep the line moving in my opinion. They have to do something. I think if they can get close to that $200 million payroll, I think they can easily win the American League, but we have to see if ownership is going to be willing to do that. They already have tons and tons of players on major discounts. Take advantage of that, spend more money somewhere else, and go win in 2026. If not, I think the future is very dark for the Tigers. This is kind of their last dance in my opinion. I don’t think Scooball is going to be coming back to Detroit. Casey Mai might, but if you don’t have Scooble, I don’t think you’re going anywhere if you’re the Tigers. They need more pitching even though in game five they lost entirely due to the offense. They need another very good starting pitcher behind me and Scooble and they need a bullpen. That is not what it looked like in 2025. They’re still in a really good spot for 2026, but again, after that, I’m scared that this team’s going to have to go into full rebuild mode if they can’t win in 2026. Good luck, Tigers fans. Let’s see what you have for the off

The Detroit Tigers’ 2025 season was marked by a dramatic collapse and unfulfilled potential, as they squandered a 14-game lead in the AL Central, finishing with an 87-75 record and losing the division to the Cleveland Guardians, who overcame a 15.5-game deficit in a historic MLB turnaround. Despite clinching a playoff berth with a 2-1 win over the Boston Red Sox on September 27, the Tigers defeated the Guardians in the Wild Card Series but fell 3-2 to the Seattle Mariners in a grueling 15-inning Game 5 of the ALDS, with their offense struggling (last in stolen bases and high strikeouts) and bullpen faltering outside of Will Vest and Kyle Finnegan. At the trade deadline, the Tigers, led by Scott Harris, added seven pitchers, including Chris Paddack, Charlie Morton, and relievers like Finnegan and Paul Sewald, but these moves were criticized as underwhelming, lacking elite talent to bolster a shaky bullpen and rotation, with many acquisitions underperforming (e.g., Morton’s 7.09 ERA). In free agency, the Tigers are set to lose key players like Gleyber Torres, Tommy Kahnle, and Finnegan, while their $15 million signing of Alex Cobb yielded no starts due to injury, and their reluctance to pursue high-profile free agents like Eugenio Suárez or top relievers left them ill-equipped to address offensive and pitching deficiencies, raising questions about their 2026 competitiveness with Tarik Skubal’s free agency looming.

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20 comments

  1. YOU blew it. I suppose making a clickbait video is how you make your money, but anyone who watched the game saw it was a balanced game controlled by the pitchers. The Mariners outlasted the Tigers.

    Downvoting your content.

  2. I think the Illitch family have too much faith in their farming system, which is actually very good in both baseball and hockey. But it just isn’t good enough to fill the gaps. Gotta spend $$$.

  3. This team has hypnotized the fanbase that it's always about the future.. Max Clark, Mconigle, etc. It's like collecting baseball cards but there are no appealing pitchers unless you feel like maybe Jobe is better. Imagine this year if we had taken Wyatt Langford. I don't even know how I feel about paying Skubal more than any starter in history. If he's got another 4-5 years? For sure.

  7. I'm surprised people are giving to Tigers this much credit acting as if they fought hard. Their offense has been a complete joke since late July, even AJ Pierzynski pointed out that they couldn't score more than three runs outside of the two late inning offensive bursts they had this post season. To be fair, the Mariners struggled with offense as well, but the series was ugly in more ways than we think.

  10. Last night's game was a chess match in Extra Innings. At 3 instances, both teams had RISP and their opponents had to pick up on defense in order to stop them from scoring. The Tigers messed up at Bot 15 with Kahnlie getting 2 walks (1 intentional and 1 HBP) when they had 1 out and the Mariner's offense is overall spread out very well.

    I do agree that outside of Skubal, the Tigers need more of a definitive edge. When I saw Skubal for the first time vs the Jays, the best the Jays got was Vladdie to 2nd. However, once the first relief pitcher came in, the Jays got cooking and opened with a 2 run HR and inevitably won the game. If the Tiger's offense last night was far more effective, they would have dragged it to Game 5 and then we would probably have this discussion at the ALCS after they lose to the Jays. There would have been no way as they are able to win the World Series, especially with the Dodgers and possibly Brewers on the other side.

  12. The Tigers had the same problem the Phillies and Cubs did. No hitting in the clutch with runners already in scoring position. That’s always the difference between winners and losers. But now that it’s down to the final four teams, I’m pulling for the Brewers to take it all, even though they eliminated the Cubs awhile ago.

  14. Finally.. a team that blows a 15 game lead in their division doesnt deserve to be in the playoffs imo. Enjoy the offseason fellows and get ready for another season of mediocrity in 26

  16. @Pesky Talk A.J. Hinch cost the series. How is it possible Detroit's manager with 1 out, bases loaded in the 15th is playing his OFers so deep they had no chance of contributing to the defense? And how is it possible no one, anywhere, is calling this out?? —You (1) play your OFers only as deep as they can manage a throw home to nail the runner coming in from 3B, OR (2) you position your OFers on the infield dirt in the gaps between infielders, giving you a total of eight IFers, OR (3) you play your OFers in some combination of filling gaps and being able to catch shallow flies and make the throw home to nail the runner. Playing two OFers in the IF, one up the middle and the other midway between 1B and 2B makes sense, with your third OFer, the one with the best arm about 170' from the plate, in CF shading towards right. The alternative is to play an OFer between 1B and 2B with the 2B playing up the middle. The remaining two OFers play only as deep as they can manage an accurate throw home.

    Anything other than what I described only reduces your chances of getting out of the inning—why, for example, wasn't Detroit's RF playing close enough to the IF that he could have either caught a fly and beat the runner home with an accurate throw, or playing close enough to the IF that he could field a ground ball and either turn a DP or force the runner at the plate???

    Given it was Kahnle pitching you'd tend to expect Polanco, hitting LHed, to hit the ball on the right side of the diamond on the ground—or just where he hit it. Had Hinch been paying attention, he could have gotten through the 15th without giving up a run.

  17. I disagree the Tigers was in rebuild mode before they made the run in 2024 and it's still currently in rebuild mode now in 2025 we just more ahead of schedule then we thought and it helps that we play in a garbage division

  20. I've been a Mariners fan my entire life living in Washington. I've gotten used to hearing "The Mariners blew it" every October. Ken Griffey and Ichiro and Hernandez were always said to be so good but every year "well they looked really good earlier in the season". Friday night listening to the game at work was some of the most stressful moments in my life. I'm so ecstatic they pulled out together and won and for the first time ever I'm feeling "why not win the whole fucking thing". GO MARINERS!

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