Rebuilding Rob

On August 11, the 2024 Detroit Tigers had been written off. They had become an afterthought for most sports fans in the Detroit Metro area. Save the die hard like myself. Major league organization had decided that they were “sellers“ at July 31 trade deadline; trading off a handful of players who had conceded they would lose via free agency this winter – including their number two starting pitcher jack Flaherty.

It wasn’t supposed to be this way.

Nobody had any delusions about the Tigers doing anything in September, let alone, October. In fact, on local sports radio, they were calling this fall “the most highly anticipated season in Detroit sports history. They weren’t talking about the Tigers. They were talking about the Lions. The same Detroit Lions who were two quarters of football away from their first ever Super Bowl appearance last winter.

Since opening day, not only were the Tigers one of the youngest teams in MLB, they also had one of the lowest payrolls. between the trade, deadline, departures, and overpaid yet under performing shortstop Javier Baez getting shut down for hip surgery, the Tigers got even younger and cheaper still.

To make matters worse, two of the Tigers starting pitchers went on the injured list; right on the heels of the departure of Jack Flaherty. And what is now become something of the urban legend, there was a breakfast meeting between team, President Scott, Harris, and Tigers manager, AJ Hinch. The main topic of discussion was how they were going to field a competitive squad in light of recent events.

Hinch’s strategy was to have several “bullpen days“ before and after Tigers ace Tarik Skubal pitch. it’s not unusual for a manager to have a “bullpen day“ at some point in the season in order to give his starting pitchers an extra day of rest. However, bullpen days are going to be the rule more than the exception for this Tiger team.

Bullpen days meant that he would have to depend on another relatively new concept in baseball: the “opener”. Not unlike closing pitchers who enter games in the eighth or ninth inning and are known for their speed, accuracy and intensity, Hinch’s approach was to use several members of the Tigers bullpen staff – typically in one to two innings each – and string together a 9 inning pitching performance.

The “bullpen day” concept, or as Hinch himself started to call it “pitching chaos”, was a succes. Typically in a baseball game, once a hitter has faced a starting pitcher, three or more times, he has basically seen everything. The picture has in his arsenal. By limiting Tiger pictures to one or two winnings each, this would confuse and confound the opposing batters. Typically, they did not get the opportunity to see everything that the Tigers pitchers had in their arsenal from game the game. He himself admitted that “pitching chaos“ would not be able to sustain itself for until your baseball season. All he was hoping to do was get through the final two months of the year.

But pitching chaos worked for beyond anyone’s expectations. This, coupled with a more aggressive base-running strategy and some hits and key defense happening in opportune moments, too the Tigers from 10 games below 500 to a postseason birth. Their record of 31 and 13 made the Tigers the hottest team in major league baseball for the final two months of the year. The last team to earn A postseason berth from a sub 500 record was the 1973 New York Mets. Of course, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that this postseason birth went out been possible without an epic collapse from the tigers, division rival Minnesota Twins.

For me, as a lifelong Tigers fan, I would’ve been happy to see the tigers finish with a .500 won-loose percentage for the year. Their postseason birth completely exceeded all of my expectations.

The Tigers got hot at the most opportune time. They completed a two-game sweep against the Houston Astros and moved onto the American League division series where they face the Cleveland Guardians. However, pitching chaos and youthful vigor only gets a tea with limited ability so far; as they fell to the Guardians in five games.

The 2024 Detroit Tiger season was for me, and I’m sure many other casual and die-hard tiger fans, a breath of fresh air. This year was the first time the Tigers reached the postseason in 10 years. for the last two months, they made baseball relevant in Detroit once again.

But the truth is, even even if the Tigers finished with losing record this year, I would still follow the team. My tiger Phantom is a multigenerational love affair. My grandfather, my father, I – and by the grace of God – at least one of my sons will be Detroit Tiger fans.

I am a little bit heartbroken about the abrupt end of the tiger season, but for the first time in several years, I’m eager to see what happens next year.

Thanks for stopping by Rebuilding Rob. Be sure to like, comment and subscribe to my blog below. It’s greatly appreciated! Also, feel free to follow me on social media as well! Check out my most recent posts as well as some earlier, related posts:

• Teacher Armor and the Saturday Clearing
• The Extra Day: A Ten-Year Memory
• Of Training Wheels and Christmas Lights
• Charity Starts at Home (And I’m Back in My Childhood One)
• The Muscle of Empathy

The article “thank you, Detroit Tigers!” first appeared on Rebuilding Rob.