Detroit Tigers, Led by Former Stanford Cardinal, on Top of the AL

The Detroit Tigers are back. The best team in the American League with a 56-34 record, the Tigers have struggled in recent seasons, going nine straight years without making the playoff. But in 2024, everything changed when former Stanford standout, A.J. Hinch, led the Tigers to their first winning season since 2016 and their first playoff appearance since 2014 in his fourth year with the franchise.

Despite losing in the ALDS, the Tigers proved last season that they are on the rise once again. They also stopped the Houston Astros streak of appearing in every American League Championship Series by beating them two games to zero in the AL Wild Card round.

So far in 2025, the Tigers have not only looked even better than last season, but they have played like the best team in baseball for most of the season. They are currently tied with the Los Angeles Dodgers for the best record in the game, and there weren't nearly as many Detroit-centric headlines over the offseason.

Starting pitcher, Tarik Skubal, has undoubtedly been a large part of the team's winning ways, following up his 2024 AL Cy Young campaign with what could end up being an even better 2025. Skubal is 10-2 on the year with a 2.15 ERA, has upped his strikeout rate, cut his walk rate, and holds a 0.835 WHIP for good measure.

Taking over the Tigers' job in 2021, Hinch's first three seasons in Detroit were nothing to write home about, finishing under .500 and missing the postseason by a substantial amount. But through it all, the Tigers were a young team and were constantly looking for the right pieces along the way.

Now, with the rise of guys like Skubal and the emergence of under-the-radar stars such as Riley Greene, and the arrival of the player Detroit foresaw in former No. 1 overall pick Spencer Torkelson, Hinch not only has the Tigers in good shape this season, but set up for a future of success.

A World Series-winning manager with the Houston Astros, Hinch is no stranger to building a team from the ground up. When he took over the Astros job ahead of the 2015 season, the team was already on the rise, but it was under his guidance that the Astros went from being a bubble team to making two World Series in the span of three years, winning one in 2017.

In 2018, the Astros lost in the ALCS, while in 2019 they made another World Series appearance-- losing to the Washington Nationals in seven games.

But because of the Astros' infamous sign stealing scandal from their 2017 title winning season, he was suspended and eventually fired by the Astros. In dire need of new management, with no real sense of direction, Hinch was hired by the Tigers once his suspension ended and has been a key part of their rise ever since.

Last season when his team visited Oakland for the final time, Hinch told reporters he took some of his players up to the top of Mount Davis out in center field, and from there, pointed out Stanford on the horizon.

Now, Hinch not only has the Tigers in prime position to make a deep playoff run, but they are now considered heavy favorites to represent the American League in the World Series. While the franchise has put together some very good seasons during their history, they have not won a World Series since 1984. If Hinch can bring a title to Detroit for the first time in over 40 years, he will forever be immortalized as a legend of the city.