No longer novelties, Tigers have best record in MLB: ‘I don’t think teams enjoy playing us’

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DETROIT — In the first team meeting of spring training, A.J. Hinch played a video in front of a packed room.

The footage amounted to a highlight reel from last season. There were all the defining moments. Parker Meadows’ home run rob in Seattle. Tarik Skubal’s strikeouts in clutch circumstances, always punctuated with his mammoth roars. There were walk-off hits and dazzling plays. But there were smaller moments, too. Matt Manning coming up and pitching as the 27th man in a rainy doubleheader. Keider Montero twirling a complete game in September. Ryan Kreidler sliding to stop a ball down the third-base line and firing across the diamond, his throw scooped by Spencer Torkelson at first.

The point was not to relive the exhilaration of a sterling 31-11 run. It was to show all the many moments that unfold over 162 games. To highlight just how many players are needed to survive the grind. To emphasize the fact that the Tigers could not have been the darlings of baseball last September without contributions grand and microscopic, from late March in Chicago all the way to the Division Series in Detroit.

“I did it because I wanted to show who we are,” Hinch said one dewy morning this spring. “There’s so many things that happen, and if you don’t take a step back, you’ll miss it.”

One May morning in the Tigers clubhouse, outfielder Justyn-Henry Malloy looked around the room, tallied the moments in his head and thought back to that montage.

“The one thing that was cool about that video,” he said, “was there was so many pinch hit at-bats. There were so many of those at-bats where maybe it wasn’t a direct pinch hit, but maybe it was the second at-bat after a pinch hit. People wouldn’t know that, but you remember, ‘He didn’t start that game.’”

Malloy is one of the players who most personifies the Tigers’ style. This roster functions with all 26 men playing key roles. Often, the Tigers use 11, 12 or even 13 position players all in one night. Late last season, their patented pitching chaos — a system of openers, bulk relievers and matchups that was incredibly calculated — led them to baseball’s best ERA over the final two months.

Our fans love the Tigers 🐅 pic.twitter.com/J5sT5F8mHs

— Detroit Tigers (@tigers) May 15, 2025

Now, the Tigers are 29-15 to start a new season. They will wake up Thursday morning with the best record in all of Major League Baseball. Their run differential of plus-86 is also the game’s best. The stat suggests much of what we are seeing is for real.

“One other thing about that video,” left-handed pitcher Tyler Holton said, “is so much of it came from guys who didn’t start in the big leagues. Everybody knows it takes more than the first 26 to get you to where you want to go.”

This year’s Tigers still have the third-most pinch hit at-bats of any team. They play a data-driven style that has them ranking last in stolen bases. They have bunted only four times. But they blend the old and the new because they can also play with breakneck aggression, leading the majors in advancing extra bases. They have a traditional five-man rotation but do not have a set closer. They still lean heavily on a no-roles bullpen that has a 2.91 ERA.

“I think there are a lot of ways for us to beat teams,” Skubal said. “I don’t think teams enjoy playing us. We do all the little things right.”

To the point of that spring video, injuries bit the Tigers hard before Opening Day. They lost three center fielders. Always churning their roster, they have already used 18 different position players and 18 different pitchers this season.

They have a Cy Young winner in Skubal and an All-Star outfielder in Riley Greene. But this team remains greater than the sum of its parts, filled with comeback stories, youthful energy and a style that just keeps working.

Last year, the Tigers were remarkable novelties. This year, they might just be for real.

“It’s the formula for our team,” Malloy said. “Does it work everywhere? I have no idea. All I’m focused on is it works for us.”

All teams use words like culture, chemistry and grit. They preach playing all 27 outs, being where your feet are, taking things one day at a time.

How do you separate the real from the phony? The cliche from the pioneering?

In this case, it’s best to simply watch, study and learn.

“I know everybody sort of can mock culture and coachspeak and all that,” Hinch said. “But that’s kind of who we are.”

The Tigers this spring asked Javier Báez, a former superstar making $24 million, to move from shortstop and play third base and center field. They took Casey Mize and Spencer Torkelson, two No. 1 picks, and made them earn their roster spots. They asked Colt Keith, a young player whom the team gave a pre-debut extension, to move from second base to first base. Now they’re asking him to play first, second and DH.

“I don’t know what all that’s worth,” Hinch said. “But I’ve learned guys are willing to do whatever it takes to be a good teammate and do what needs to be done.”

The Tigers play the likes of Zach McKinstry all over the diamond. Kerry Carpenter, one of the best hitters in the American League, still gets pinch hit for against tough left-handed pitching.

One day toward the end of spring training, Hinch watched as young shortstop Trey Sweeney shagged balls in center field. Hinch joked: “You keep doing that,” he said, “and people are going to wonder.”

“Every day it’s a different lineup,” Holton said. “It’s never the same. It’s a little bit different than old-school baseball, but everyone is bought in.”

Players will tell you it has not always been easy. Last season, Holton had a 2.19 ERA. The ultimate Swiss Army Knife, he pitched in every inning of games, started nine times as an opener and on eight occasions shut the door for saves. A starter in his younger days, he spent 2023 tinkering with his routine to learn how to succeed as an opener. He tried going out 30 minutes before first pitch and loosening like a traditional starter. Seeking to replicate the adrenaline from the bullpen, he settled on sticking with a normal routine, even running out to the bullpen and getting hot just before first pitch.

“Sometimes it’s trial and error,” Holton said. “But once you get through that part of it, you can believe you’re ready for any situation.”

Carpenter sat down with Hinch this spring and asked what he needed to do to get more at-bats against lefties, and no player wants to get the tap on the shoulder signaling a pinch hit. But when the big moments come, players have learned to trust in the decisions.

Helps when Hinch’s hand of cards wins out more often than not.

“I think it starts with who’s at the top,” Holton said. “A.J., we have a lot of trust in him, and he’s just put that trust in us.”

Said Carpenter: “Sometimes baseball can get kind of selfish. But when we’re fighting for a playoff spot and have the record that we have, it’s about the whole team.”

Wednesday evening, the Tigers completed a three-game sweep of the Boston Red Sox.

They won a 6-5 contest with Will Vest, a pitcher who threw 36 pitches the night before, on the mound. They won with Gleyber Torres, a second baseman knocked for his defense, making a sliding play up the middle to keep the game tied in the ninth. They won with Andy Ibáñez darting toward second with Aroldis Chapman pitching, stealing a base for only the ninth time in his MLB career. An errant throw bounced into the outfield, and Ibáñez sprinted to third.

Eventually, Akil Baddoo, cast off the 40-man roster this winter but brought back for the first time Wednesday, was due up. Hinch instead turned to his bench, where the right-handed Malloy lurked to face the left-handed Chapman.

Malloy has been maybe the most sparsely used player on this do-it-all roster, starting only two games so far in May. This spring, he talked with Tigers legend Miguel Cabrera about staying ready for pinch hit or DH work. In the third inning, he started stretching. In the fourth inning, he hit in the cage. He took the fifth inning off, and by the sixth, he began playing the chess match in his head, looking at the Red Sox bullpen, analyzing who the Tigers had due up in their order.

Malloy’s name was called with a runner on third and two outs in the ninth inning of a tie game. He was facing a famed flamethrower hurling triple-digit fastballs.

“He only gets the toughest matchups in baseball,” Hinch said. “That’s his role on this team.”

But on a 2-0 count, Chapman left a fastball center cut. Malloy let it travel and punched a line drive over second base and into the outfield grass. Ibáñez touched home plate, and the Tigers won again.

Today was a great day to sweep the Boston Red Sox ‼️ pic.twitter.com/arMAfKR3su

— Detroit Tigers (@tigers) May 15, 2025

One night ago, Malloy had hoisted a cooler and dumped ice water all over walk-off hero Báez.

Now he was the one getting mobbed with hugs and doused with baby powder.

This was another walk-off hit that defined that Tigers’ spirit. And just maybe, footage for another highlight reel.

“We’ve never been out to prove anything,” Hinch said. “Never been out to garner any respect. We’ve never been out to do anything but win games, win series, win weeks, win months and have a winning season.”

(Photo: Gregory Shamus / Getty Images)

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