Detroit Tigers 2025 End Of Season Review: The Tigers Are Ahead of Schedule

The end of the Detroit Tigers' 2025 season may make it feel like this is one of the worst organizations in baseball. Of course, an 87-win team with back-to-back ALDS appearances and a top farm system is not one of the worst in baseball, so why does it feel that way? The most straightforward answer is expectations. Two seasons ago, this team had one of the worst farm systems in the league and won only 66 games. The media screamed for big names and "sluggers," blaming Chris Illitch for being cheap and demanding heads to roll in the front office. Logically, this approach should change when the results change, right? Yes, but it hasn't. Why is that?

"Tarik Skubal (53947874625) (cropped)" by Jeffrey Hyde is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.

The team had the best record in baseball in early July, and every outlet was talking about the Tigers "going all in" by adding a big bat, like Eugenio Suarez. It is interesting that no matter what the team does, the media narrative stays the same. Again, why is that? Could it be that the media gets more clicks and views for writing negative articles or articles featuring big-name players? Possibly. Could it be that the baseball coverage in Detroit only knows one narrative that it learned for the success of the Dave Dombrowski era? That's also possible.

Detroit Tigers 2025 Season Review: The Dave Dombrowski Effect

Dombrowski built a team that went to two World Series (2006, 2012), and won the division four straight times from 2011-2014. The team was built around expensive sluggers and power pitchers. To do so, Dombrowski emptied a farm system that he never really stocked up.

Of course, he always managed to swing some incredibly one-sided deal, which cannot be the expectation for any front office personel. The Tigers traded Andrew Miller (4.03 ERA, 7.7 WAR) and Cameron Maybin (.697 OPS, 13.4 WAR) for Miguel Cabrera (.977 OPS, 51.4 WAR 2008-2016). That would be like the Tigers now trading Hao-Yu Lee and Jaden Hamm for Aaron Judge.

Those teams also featured only a few homegrown players, Justin Verlander, Rick Porcello, and Alex Avila. In the end, they won the same amount of World Series titles as Scott Harris-led teams: zero. What did it cost? Ten years of hard-to-watch baseball.

The Tigers paid the price for the "going all in every year" approach. Does that mean that the organization shouldn't try to compete for a World Series? Of course not. However, they can't approach this objective foolishly, which brings us back to this season and its problems.

Detroit Tigers 2025 Season Review: Approach at the Plate

At the end-of-season press conference, Scott Harris (President of Baseball Operations) discussed what went wrong this season. His focus was on approach at the plate, lack of contact, and pitching health and depth. Let's check on these. The Tigers ranked 14th in on-base percentage, 15th in walks, 5th in strikeouts, and 15th in batting average. Harris mentioned that they went from a top-eight offense to a bottom-eight offense this season.

The Tigers' poor approach at the plate and inability to create contact were on full display in the postseason. They struck out 88 times in eight games. Notably, in Game 5 of the ALDS, the Tigers had eight hits and four walks in 51 plate appearances. The media will argue, "THAT'S WHY WE NEED HOME RUN HITTERS!" That mindset is why they consistently struck out and rolled over in clutch situations. The Tigers needed someone to put the ball into to play.

Players	Strikeouts	Home Runs	Walks
Riley Greene	201	36	46
Spencer Torkelson	169	31	72
Zach McKinstry	111	12	46
Kerry Carpenter	106	26	18

The worst thing that happened to the Tigers in the ALDS was the three home runs in Game 4. Home runs didn't start the rally that took that game over. The Tigers need to demonstrate a willingness to put the ball in play, taking the single or the walk. That allowed them to see better pitches. In Game 5, Riley Greene, Spencer Torkelson, Colt Keith, and Parker Meadows combined for 0-22, one walk, and 11 strikeouts.

During the season, Greene led the league in strikeouts (201). From July first to the end of the season, he had 97 of those strikeouts. He did have 17 home runs and a .215 batting average. Those numbers are indicative of a losing brand of baseball. So, for those saying the Tigers needed to add Suarez at the deadline, consider this: he hit .198, struck out 108 times, and hit 23 home runs in that same span.

This example illustrates why analytics-focused analysis can sometimes miss the point. Analytics say that power leads to more wins, but people typically stop there. On-base percentage matters a great deal, too. It's just not as sexy to talk about walks and singles as it is to talk about home runs. How many more runs would the Tigers have scored if you randomly assigned a single or a walk for just ten of the strikeouts? I'm no mathematician, but the numbers would increase.

Detroit Tigers 2025 Season Review: The Al Avila Problem

At various points, people have noted that this team is largely built on Al Avila's prospects. That's true. That's why the approach to the plate is so bad. The team has emphasized plate discipline, but it's not a linear process. When struggles come, all players revert to factory settings, and for players drafted by Avilla, that's expanding the strike zone and swinging harder.

People used to make fun of Harris's approach to adding players with low strikeout rates and high walk rates. It's why they added Gleyber Torres, a move that was largely dismissed because of his lack of home runs. Torres was the Tigers' most disciplined batter this season. Before his hernia injury in September, those numbers showed that. He struck out 78 times and walked 71 times through his first 122 games. In September, he struck out 23 times in 23 games.

As Harris pointed out, the good news is that the prospects he drafted do not have that approach. It's the minor leagues, so take this with a grain of salt, but Kevin McGonigle struck out 46 times and walked 59 times in his 88 games this season. Max Clark struck out 90 times and walked 94 times in 111 games. Javier Baez, the lasting prize of the Avila era, struck out 109 times and walked 10 times this season. That's the issue in a nutshell. The team's inability to make consistent contact showed up later in the season.

The Detroit Tigers 2025 Season Review: Pitching

The team also struggled with pitching as the season went on. These struggles were partly due to injuries, including Reese Olson, Jackson Jobe, Jason Foley, and Beau Brieske. The reality is that pitching injuries are a part of baseball, and that the team should have had some depth answers to help here. Sawyer Gibson-Long struggled in this role. Matt Manning proved incapable of reaching the major leagues, and Alex Cobb never got healthy enough.

The team needs to make improvements here, but it isn't as pressing as with the hitting. Players getting healthy helps with a portion of this problem. Jobe and Olson should fill spots in the rotation when they return. Troy Melton, a rising star in an otherwise disappointing second half, also has a claim to a spot. Throw in Tarik Skubal and Casey Mize, and that's a pretty good rotation. Depth is the priority here. Barring a legitimate second starter becoming available, the Tigers shouldn't be exploring this market in too much depth. This configuration, of course, leaves Jack Flaherty out. It will be interesting to see how the Tigers proceed with him.

Players	ERA	Ks/BBs
Tarik Skubal	2.21	241/33
Reese Olson	3.15	65/25
Casey Mize	3.87	139/36
Troy Melton	2.76	36/15
Jackson Jobe	4.22	39/27

Instead, all pitching focus this offseason should be on the bullpen. The Tigers' bullpen also had injuries and suffered from some overusage, but in the postseason, it held up. The bullpen allowed 18 runs across roughly 40 innings. Take out the five runs in the eighth inning of Game 2 of the WIld Card, and suddenly it's 13 runs across roughly 40 innings. That's a sub 3.00 era that still includes Brenan Hanifee, Tommy Kahnle, and Rafael Montero's outings (3.1 innings and six runs). That brings the rest of the bullpen time to a sub 2.00 ERA. That's a lot of slicing and dicing, but generally, the bullpen held up well.

In the ALDS, Melton, Will Vest, and Keider Montero allowed one earned run. Kyle Finnegan, who pitched more innings (4.1) than starter Casey Mize (3.0), struggled, likely due to overuse. Tyler Holton did not do his best work in this series (three hits in 1.1 innings). Brant Hurter pitched alright as well (one earned run in three innings). After that, Tommy Kahnle, Rafael Montero, and Brenan Hanifee struggled.

The Tigers have two setup pitchers (Finnegan, Vest) and three utility relievers (Holton, Hurter, and Montero). The Tigers will need to add some swing and miss pitchers to this bullpen if they want to succeed next season. If they want to make a splashy move, add a closer. Hinch loves the versatility of putting guys in the high-leverage situations, but they need a legitimate closer.

Don't be surprised to see Foley, Brieske, and even Alex Lange get a shot at next year's team. Briekse and Lange have had struggles, but they both have the swing and miss qualities that his bullpen needs.

The Detroit Tigers 2025 Season Review: Media Narratives

Scott Harris is correct that the team will need to be more aggressive this offseason. It's just not going ot be what the media wants, and that's probably for the best. The media focused on Skubal, Chris Illitch, and the trade deadline at the press conference. Let's examine those in greated detail.

The contract talks about Skubal will never go away. It is in the best interest of the fans and the team to keep him. However, the panic and the reading into the tea leaves about how a question was answered are clickbait and not grounds to form an opinion on. Harris intentionally tried to side-step the question to avoid this from happening, and within an hour of the press conference, the speculation about the team trading Skubal began. It doesn't matter what is said and done. Until this issue is resolved, it will serve as a media talking point to drive traffic. Don't get sucked into whatever nonsense the screaming heads or intentionally vague articles suggest.

The Tigers spent $157 million on this roster per spotrac. That's the 17th most of any MLB team. The Tigers added $65 milion of that this past offseason (Jack Flaherty, Kahnle, Torres, Cobb, and John Brebbia). That's a little over a 40% increase. Spending isn't the problem. The Tigers even offered Alex Bregman a six-year $171 million contract. No. Chris Illitch isn't the problem. He's clearly allowed Harris to be aggresive. One could argue that Harris hasn't spent the money properly. That brings us to the trade deadline.

Harris admitted that the deadline wasn't great. Finnegan (three earned runs in 18 innings) and Montero (seven earned runs in 22 innings) helped down the stretch. Chris Paddack ( and Charlie Morton were disasters. On that front, Harris would have been better off doing nothing. It didn't appear that anything was available for a reasonable price. Furthermore, the Tigers didn't appear ready to compete at this level.

In fact, looking at the players that were moved at the deadline, not many really shone. Ultimately, the deadline is typically overblown. The deadline was insufficient to resolve all the team's issues. It's why the team should focus on offseason improvements.

The Detroit Tigers 2025 Season Review Verdict

The start of this season makes the ending disappointing. This team, however, is moving ahead of schedule. When Harris took over after the debacle that was the 2022 season, when the team won 66 games and had one of the worst farm systems in baseball, fans would have been elated to make the playoffs in back-to-back seasons with a top farm system in baseball. However, expectations can distort our view of reality. When a team has a 15.5-game lead over a division rival and is the first to sixty wins in the MLB, a 7-17 finish in September colors that greatly.

So, yes, it is disapointing, but it shouldn't call for any overreactions. The team has a young core that has displayed the ability to play at a high level. Many of these players will improve going into next season, and the team has the opportunity to be aggressive in the offseason, showing potential free agents that this team's ability to make the postseason isn't a fluke.

They have a minor league system with potential future stars on their way up. The Tigers still have A.J. Hinch managing the team. Winning is hard, but the Tigers' quick success shouldn't be negated by the struggles to finish this season. Spencer Torkelson and Casey Mize turned their careers around this season. Dillon Dingler looks like one of the best catchers in baseball. Troy Melton could be a star. Kerry Carpenter has the potential to be a star if he can stay healthy.

So, don't fret. The Tigers are building something that will last, and postseason success is right around the corner. This offseason requires some additions and more importantly, internal improvement. The approach at the plate will determine everything. If they double down on trying to hit home runs, it will go south fast. If they get back to working counts, drawing walks, and going first to third, watch out. The Tigers could replicate the success they achieved in the first half of last season again next season.