Will Past Weakness Come Back To Haunt Tigers This Year?

There is seemingly no stopping the Detroit Tigers right now in the American League with the team continuing to be on an impressive roll.

With the All-Star break nearly here, the Tigers have firmly established themselves as the team to beat in the AL.

After the success in 2024, Detroit has carried that momentum right into this year and has improved in a lot of areas. So far, the offense has been really good for the Tigers, ranking in the Top 10 in both runs scored and OPS.

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Even though they didn’t do a ton to improve the unit in the winter, the addition of Gleyber Torres was a great one, and players like Spencer Torkelson and Javier Baez contributing have been helpful.

Despite being an improved team, there are still some concerns when thinking about trying to win a World Series. One of the strengths of Detroit in the second half of the last campaign and into the playoffs was their ability to find a way to win with their bullpen.

A.J. Hinch did a masterful job piecing things together to win a game, but they have had a hard time replicating that in 2025. With multiple injuries to starters in the rotation, that has put some stress on the pitching staff.

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Kerry Miller of Bleacher Report recently wrote about the Tigers having to face some adversity in their starting rotation with players on the injured list.

“With Jackson Jobe out for the year, Alex Cobb yet to make his 2025 debut and Reese Olson just last week returning from a six-week stint on the IL, Detroit has needed to revert to the frequent openers approach it used last fall—and hasn't been nearly as successful at it.”

Detroit is very fortunate to have the likely American League Cy Young award winner on their team and leading the rotation. Tarik Skubal covers up a lot of issues with his ability to seemingly win any game he starts at this point.

However, with expectations being very high now, the Tigers need to make sure they have enough support around him, unlike last season.

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Currently, Casey Mize is emerging as potentially the number two starter for the team, but there are a lot of question marks after that. With the bullpen seemingly taking a little bit of a step back as well this year, it’s going to be nearly impossible to replicate what they did in the 2024 postseason.

With the trade deadline quickly approaching adding another starter and reliever to really gear up for October and make sure there aren’t any weaknesses on the pitching staff makes a lot of sense.

For more Tigers news, head over to Tigers On SI.