This lineup is built <\/a>around the idea that Torkelson becomes a middle-of-the-order force. We\u2019ve seen flashes before \u2014 stretches where it looks like everything is clicking \u2014 but they\u2019ve never lasted long enough to quiet the long-term questions. And early returns in 2026 suggest those questions aren\u2019t going away anytime soon.<\/p>\nIf Torkelson isn\u2019t driving the ball, this offense has a very real ceiling problem. Because there simply aren\u2019t many other hitters on this roster who can consistently do it for him.<\/p>\n
The power problem looks exactly the same<\/p>\n
This is the one that ties everything together \u2014 and it\u2019s the most concerning. The Tigers rank 27th in MLB with just seven home runs.<\/p>\n
This is after an entire offseason where the front office had a clear, obvious need: add power. Instead, Detroit doubled down on run prevention, pitching depth, and internal development. That\u2019s a defensible strategy in theory \u2014 especially with arms like Framber Valdez and a deep bullpen mix \u2014 but it only works if the offense can at least be average.<\/p>\n
Right now, it\u2019s not. And more importantly, it looks structurally flawed in a way that won\u2019t magically fix itself. This isn\u2019t just bad luck on fly balls or a few warning-track outs. It\u2019s a lineup lacking true impact bats.<\/p>\n
When you combine that with Torkelson\u2019s slow start, the issue becomes even more glaring: who is this team\u2019s reliable power source? Because contenders don\u2019t have to ask that question in April.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s still early. Verlander could return quickly. Torkelson could heat up. Power numbers can spike in a hurry over a couple of series. So maybe it\u2019s not time to slam the panic button. But it\u2019s absolutely time to stop hovering your hand over it and start asking a tougher question:<\/p>\n
What if this is just who the Tigers are? <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The calendar says early April. The standings say it\u2019s too soon to overreact. But if you\u2019re a Detroit…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":668620,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2386],"tags":[5,147,53,2583,4,594],"class_list":{"0":"post-668619","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-detroit-tigers","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-detroit","10":"tag-detroit-tigers","11":"tag-detroittigers","12":"tag-mlb","13":"tag-tigers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/668619","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=668619"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/668619\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/668620"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=668619"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=668619"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=668619"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}