{"id":642278,"date":"2026-03-25T07:55:49","date_gmt":"2026-03-25T07:55:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/642278\/"},"modified":"2026-03-25T07:55:49","modified_gmt":"2026-03-25T07:55:49","slug":"how-kevin-mcgonigles-move-will-help-detroit-tigers-forget-last-seasons-regular-season-collapse-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/642278\/","title":{"rendered":"How Kevin McGonigle’s move will help Detroit Tigers forget last season\u2019s regular-season collapse"},"content":{"rendered":"

How Kevin McGonigle’s move will help Detroit Tigers forget last season\u2019s regular-season collapse <\/a> originally appeared on The Sporting News<\/a>. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Detroit Tigers<\/a> averted the biggest collapse in MLB history last season.<\/p>\n

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Sort of.<\/p>\n

When they dropped a 5-1 decision to the Cleveland Indians<\/a> on Sept. 25, 2025, it marked the Tigers’ fifth-straight defeat to their chief AL Central rival. The Tigers fell from first place, capping a staggering two-month decline. In early July, they held a 15.5-game lead over the Indians, who, despite the long odds, climbed back into contention and claimed the division title.<\/p>\n

The Tigers, who saved face by qualifying for the postseason via wild card, failed to execute fundamentally throughout a sloppy final stretch. The Indians\u2019 late-season rally marked MLB\u2019s biggest deficit overcome to claim a pennant. The previous record was developed in 1914 when the Boston Braves rallied from 15 games back.<\/p>\n

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Will the Tigers forget about the final weeks of 2025?<\/p>\n

Can rookie Kevin McGonigle, who on Tuesday learned he will make the Opening Day roster<\/a>, help maintain a grander level of consistency, erasing those recent memories?<\/p>\n

Detroit Tigers giving Kevin McGonigle chance \u00a0 <\/p>\n

Fundamentals were a missing ingredient from the Tigers\u2019 final-month performances, lowlighted by losing 12 of 13 at one point. Mental lapses replaced instinctive reactions. Slumps limited the lineup.<\/p>\n

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McGonigle\u2019s addition could help improve the team\u2019s on-field consistency in 2026. The Tigers on Tuesday announced MLB\u2019s No. 2-ranked prospect will travel to San Diego for Thursday\u2019s Opening Day festivities.<\/p>\n

McGonigle likely will compete on the left side of the Tigers\u2019 infield, predominantly splitting time with Javy Baez at shortstop and Colt Keith at third base.<\/p>\n

Solidifying his place in the Tigers\u2019 near-future plans, McGonigle opened the Arizona Fall League with a .404 batting average with four home runs and a 1.251 OPS in his opening 15 games. He earned MVP honors. His consistency carried into spring training.<\/p>\n

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McGonigle, 21, proved himself against the Dominican Republic\u2019s Luis Severino, homering on the first pitch<\/a> of the World Baseball Classic exhibition game.<\/p>\n

The swing proved to be one of spring training\u2019s most memorable moments. <\/p>\n

It failed to erase the end of 2025, though.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"How Kevin McGonigle’s move will help Detroit Tigers forget last season\u2019s regular-season collapse originally appeared on The Sporting…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":610231,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2386],"tags":[5,7328,1964,147,53,2583,4140,1327,4,137,1323,594],"class_list":["post-642278","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-detroit-tigers","tag-baseball","tag-cleveland-indians","tag-colt-keith","tag-detroit","tag-detroit-tigers","tag-detroittigers","tag-kevin-mcgonigle","tag-luis-severino","tag-mlb","tag-san-diego","tag-the-tigers","tag-tigers"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116288748859343184","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/642278","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=642278"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/642278\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/610231"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=642278"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=642278"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=642278"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}