2025 Detroit Tigers

2025 Detroit Tigers / Franchise: Detroit Tigers / BR Team Page[edit]

Record: 87-75, Finished 2nd in AL Central Division (2025 AL) Wild Card

Coaches: Keith Beauregard, Michael Brdar, Joey Cora, Chris Fetter, Anthony Iapoce, Gary Jones, George Lombard, Robin Lund, Juan Nieves, Ryan Sienko and Lance Zawadzki

Ballpark: Comerica Park

History, Comments, Contributions[edit]

The 2025 Detroit Tigers were coming off an excellent second half in 2024 that had enabled them to reach the postseason for the first time in a decade, after being almost eliminated at the trading deadline. Even better, this had been achieved thanks to a bevy of young players showing steady improvement, and once in the postseason, they upset the Houston Astros with a two-game sweep on the road in the Wild Card Series, and then gave the Cleveland Guardians a run for their money in the Division Series. The year had also seen the emergence of Tarik Skubal as the best pitcher in the American League, so the 2025 season offered plenty of promise.

The Tigers did not disappoint their fans in the first two months of the season, as after 50 games their record of 33-17 was the best in the major leagues; they were the first Tigers team to do so since 2006 - a year when they made it to the World Series. One of the unexpected heroes over that period was Spencer Torkelson, who had struggled his way out of a starting job by the end of the previous season. However he had a strong spring training, and was hitting like had been expected of him when the Tigers had made him the first overall pick in the 2020 amateur draft. After posting a .219 average with just 10 homers in 2024, he had already hit 12 long balls at that point, had also exceeded his RBI total for the season, and his OPS+ was at 150. Other strong performers included left fielder Riley Greene, another former top draft pick, who was tied with Torkelson for the team home run lead with 12 and whose OPS+ was 146. The best story, however, was Javier Baez, who had been terrible the year before - in fact, the Tigers made their move up the standings when he was on the injured list and no longer dragging down the team's entire offense. After a move to center field motivated by some injuries, he had found his bat again, , with a .284 average, an OPS+ of 123, and some spectacular defensive work in the outfield. Off-season signee Gleyber Torres was another great addition, as his OPS+ was 126.

On July 20th, in their 100th game, they became the first major league team to 60 wins that season, after another vintage performance from ace Skubal, in his first start of the second half after being the starting pitcher at the 2025 All-Star Game. That win ended a six-game losing streak sandwiched around the Midsummer Classic. A sputtering offense was the source of the trouble, as they had scored 18 runs in the six games, but 7 of them coming in a single 15-7 loss to the Seattle Mariners. In the game that ended the streak, Skubal ended up with a no-decision in spite of giving up just 1 run and striking out 11 while walking none in 6 2/3 innings, as Detroit beat the Texas Rangers, 2-1, thanks to an 8th-inning run. With the win, the Tigers had a lead of 11 games on the second-place Guardians.

The Tigers hit a rough patch in late July and early August, going 7-11 to see their lead shrink to 5 games on August 9th, but it looked like just a hiccup as they picked it up after that. After posting a losing record in July due their late swoon, they were 16-12 in August and finished the month up 9 1/2 games on Cleveland. It looked like it was just a question of playing out the stretch, but the Tigers were about to undergo a collapse for the ages. They lost their first two games in September, but the Guardians were scuffling as well, so after a 6-2 win over the New York Mets on September 3rd, they had increased their lead to a full ten games. They did alright for the next few games, winning four of their next six, but by then Cleveland was not losing anymore, so the lead began to shrink. They then lost three straight games before winning again on September 14th, a 2-0 shutout of the Miami Marlins to complete a 2-4 road trip. Their lead was now down to 6 1/2 games, but the following home stand was a disaster: they were swept by both Cleveland and the Atlanta Braves, and with Cleveland losing just one during that stretch, the lead was down to one game as they headed to Cleveland for a crucial series starting on September 23rd. The Guardians won the first two games, and what had once been a 14-game lead was now a one-game deficit. This ranked among the biggest collapses in history, with the likes of the 1978 Boston Red Sox and the 1964 Philadelphia Phillies. They finally stopped their skid on September 25th, when they won the series finale 4-2 over Cleveland. The two teams were tied again with three games left to play - but Cleveland held the tiebreaker, and the team finishing second was not even assured of playing in the postseason with the Houston Astros only one game back. The final series was no cakewalk either, as the Tigers played their last three games at Fenway Park against a Boston Red Sox team also looking to nail down its spot in the postseason. Boston accomplished its mission by winning the first game of the series, then on September 27th, Detroit managed to hold them off for a tense 2-1 win that finally allowed them to breath a sigh of relief. They were still tied with Cleveland, but the fact that both teams had won that day had eliminated Houston from further contention and assured that the Tigers would return to the postseason. The quest for the division title, however, would go to game 162 the next day.

Awards and Honors[edit]

All-Stars: Javier Baez, Riley Greene, Zach McKinstry, Casey Mize, Tarik Skubal and Gleyber Torres
AL Cy Young Award: Tarik Skubal
AL Gold Glove: Dillon Dingler (C)
AL Silver Slugger Award: Riley Greene (OF) and Zach McKinstry (UT)

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