By George B. Eichorn
Don’t look now but the Detroit Tigers have a stranglehold on the American League Central. A 48-28 start by the Bengals is good enough for a 9-1/2 game lead.
What started as a surprise contender last August when Detroit surged past the Minnesota Twins to gain a wild card playoff spot – for the first time in 10 seasons – has led to a division race in 2025 that has not materialized.
While “Go Get ‘Em Tigers” in 1968 and “Bless You Boys” in 1984 marked the last two World Series championships in the Motor City someone needs to create a new slogan for the Tigers of 2025 with sights firmly fixed on ending Detroit’s 41-year championship drought; one of the longest in baseball.
Led by manager A.J. Hinch, the club has proven that timely hitting, superb starting pitching and a usually reliable bullpen can do wonders. Hinch and his coaching staff are aided by analytics peeps under club president of baseball operations Scott Harris and general manager Jeff Greenberg. Pitchers are in tune with when and what to pitch while Tigers batters are to capitalize on the opposition using tons of information by the numbers geeks.
It has resulted in a club running away with the AL Central in a season which was – on paper – supposed to be a war with defending division champs Cleveland Guardians, last year’s second-place Kansas City Royals and the Twins battling it out with the Tigers.
The reigning Cy Young Award winner Tarik Skubal picked up where he ended as the AL Pitching Triple Crown winner. The 28-year-old crafty left-hander owns an 8-2 record with an ERA of 2.06 in 96 innings. He leads the league with 117 strikeouts and likely headed to his first All-Star Game and possible AL starting pitcher on July 15 in Atlanta.
The Tigers started the season with Casey Mize (7-2 and 2.96 ERA), Jack Flaherty (5-7, 4.03), Reese Olson (4-3, 2.96) and injured Jackson Jobe (4-1, 4.22) in their starting rotation. Olson is on a rehab stint in the minors following his injury and Jobe is done for the season following Tommy John surgery. Clearly Harris and Hinch need to find one and maybe two more starters.
MLB’s All-Star is finally returning to Atlanta with the Braves as host. Besides Skubal, outfielder Riley Greene, second baseman Gleyber Torres, catcher Dillon Dingler, outfielder/shortstop Javier Baez and relief pitcher Will Vest are vying to represent Detroit.
Greene, an All-Star for the first time in his career last season, has accumulated 675,070 votes is vying to become just the fifth Tigers outfielder to earn a fan-elected starting assignment at the Midsummer Classic, and the first since Magglio Ordoñez in 2007. Others include Ron LeFlore (1976), Rusty Staub (1976) and Chet Lemon (1984). Baez sits fifth in the A.L. outfield voting.
Phase One voting by fans continues until 12:00 p.m. ET on Thursday, June 26 before MLB Network announces finalists at 6:00 p.m. ESPN unveils starters on July 2 and full A.L. and N.L. rosters on July 6. Go to MLB.com/vote.
Reach George Eichorn at geichorn@yahoo.com or @Sandgsports99 on X/Twitter.
