On July 8, 2025, the Detroit Tigers had a 14-game division lead over the Kansas City Royals and a 15.5-game lead over the Cleveland Guardians. However, the Cleveland Guardians ended up coming back and winning the division, which was the biggest comeback to win a division in MLB history.
Among the many factors that led to the Tigers’ collapse was an inability to hit, as well as pitching struggles due to inconsistency in the bullpen and starting pitching injuries. The Tigers were one of the best hitting teams in all of baseball up until the all-star break. Including May, when the Tigers had a seven-game stretch in which they scored eight or more runs in six of seven games. In contrast, the Tigers scored fewer than four runs in 12 of their last 16 games. This was due to the team’s stars all being unable to play well in the same game. This continued in the postseason when, in the Tigers’ first playoff series in Cleveland, they went 3 for 17 with runners in scoring position. Senior at Grosse Pointe South, Will Bishop ’26 offered his thoughts on hitting from what he’s seen so far this year.
“I think the offense just wasn’t hitting, you know the numbers say, you know night in and night out superstars like Riley Greene and [Spencer Torkelson], they just weren’t producing very well,” Bishop said.
Furthermore, a reason that led to the Tigers’ lack of success down the stretch was their pitching, mainly the bullpen Often, the Tigers would be up 2-0 when their starter would be pulled, and they would end up losing 4-2. Last year and this season, before the All-Star break, they were one of the best teams in the late innings. They also had to deal with a few injuries to some of their best starting pitchers as Jackson Jobe was out for the year with Tommy John surgery and Reese Olson is dealing with a shoulder injury and won’t be back till the World Series if the Tigers make it that far. Ben Copus ’28 shared his opinion on the problems with the pitching staff.
“ I think the bullpen, like I said, they’re just overworked.” Copus said “I think that the bullpen arms that we signed, we have a bunch of young guys and a bunch of older guys you know, like I don’t think we can chop it down for one particular reason”
The Tigers played the Cleveland Guardians in the wild card round and beat them in three games and they are currently playing Seattle Marrieners in a five-game series. The collapse Detroit had in September was the complete opposite of what happened last year when in the months of August and September last year they went 34-19. This year in the months of August and September, they went 24-29. The starting pitchers they acquired to try and fill the spots of Reese Olson and Jackson Jobe, Charlie Morton and Chris Paddack, all didn’t make the playoff roster. This leads to problems with overworking the entire team. Social studies teacher Chris Booth offered his opinion on what led to the collapse.
“They’re not working the coin. The bullpen has been blowing up. They’re not getting those key hits in key times like they’ve been doing for a whole year basically. So all those little things just add up” Booth said.
