On the morning of Aug. 11, 269 days and 80 regular season games ago, the Detroit Tigers were dead in the water.

Their record to date was 55–63, putting them 13 ½ games out of first place in the AL Central and 10 games out of the third wild-card spot. They had lost nine of their last 12 and were 8–13 since the All-Star break. FanGraphs gave them a 0.2% chance to make the playoffs and end what was, at the time, a 10-year postseason drought—tied with the Los Angeles Angels for MLB’s longest active streak.

Generally speaking, keeping company with the Angels is not an indicator of success. We know what happened next.

Detroit rose from the dead to rattle off 31 wins in 42 games, securing a playoff spot that turned into a run to the division series, where the Tigers fell one win short of upsetting the Cleveland Guardians. It was a breathtaking manifestation of getting hot at the right time.

Now, six weeks into the 2025 campaign, it’s becoming clear that what we saw last October was not a fluke, but a harbinger of what was coming: baseball’s next juggernaut.

The Tigers enter play Thursday with the best record (23–13) and run differential (plus-65) in the American League. After getting swept in their opening three-game set against the Los Angeles Dodgers, Detroit has won eight of its next 10 series, including six series wins against 2024 playoff teams. What’s perhaps most impressive is how quickly the club has evolved from a plucky group of promising young talent into a well-oiled, well-rounded unit.

You can chart the organization’s road from perennial loser to where it sits today by following the tried-and-true modern rebuild blueprint: a multi-year tanking effort aimed at cutting spending and replenishing through the draft. From 2011 to ‘14, the Tigers ranked among the top 10 in major-league payroll each year, per Spotrac, including three seasons in the top five. The team averaged 91.5 wins per season during that span, made the playoffs four consecutive times (a franchise record) and appeared in the ‘12 World Series.

When the core of those teams aged past the point of being competitive, it was time to switch gears. Detroit’s payroll ranked in the bottom half of the league six out of seven seasons from 2017 to ‘23. For the first three years of that stretch, the Tigers averaged a mere 59 wins per year—bottoming out with a 47–114 mark in ‘19. These were some truly dark days in the Motor City.

But the foundation for what stands today was being laid. Those lean years yielded high draft positions, including Detroit twice holding the No. 1 pick. Those two 1–1 selections turned into starting pitcher Casey Mize (2018) and first baseman Spencer Torkelson (‘20), two players who, after years of taking lumps at the big-league level, seem to have finally found their footing.

The Tigers fast-tracked Mize to the majors, promoting him to The Show on Aug. 19, 2020, just over two years after he was drafted. He struggled during his initial cup of coffee, but showed signs of growth in ‘21, posting a 3.71 ERA over 30 starts. Mize’s ‘22 campaign lasted only two starts when an elbow injury led to Tommy John surgery.

Mize made it through the 2024 season with his elbow intact, though a hamstring injury cost him two months. The results were uneven, as the righthander continued to struggle missing bats. That aspect of his game hasn’t changed in a meaningful way in ‘25—his strikeout rate this season (18.5%) is in line with his career mark prior to this year (18.2%). But a tweaked pitch mix has led to weaker contact and improved results across the board.

Mize has upped the usage of his splitter and slurve considerably, throwing each pitch 26.5% and 16.7% of the time, respectively. Last season, he threw the splitter at an 18.2% rate, and threw only 15 slurves all year. This time around, those two offerings have produced the highest whiff rates of his six-pitch arsenal—38.2% on the splitter and 34.3% on the slurve.

While the strikeouts haven’t followed this reworked pitch mix, Mize has given up way fewer line drives (12.7%) than he has before, and lowered his hard-hit rate to 40.9% compared to 44.6% in 2024. The results? A 2.70 ERA backed up by a 2.92 xERA through six starts. He has pitched into the sixth inning in every outing, and given up one earned run or fewer in four of them. Mize might never generate enough swings and misses to be the ace many hoped he’d become when he was the No. 1 pick, but his adjustments seem to have unlocked his potential enough to make him a rotation mainstay.

Torkelson has followed a similar path. He flew through three minor league levels in 2021 after the ‘20 minor league season was canceled, then made Detroit’s Opening Day roster in ‘22. He quickly proved himself to be overmatched, posting a 76 wRC+ and getting demoted back to Triple A.

The 2023 campaign saw Torkelson put up a 108 wRC+, slightly better than league average and buoyed by a team-high 31 homers. The following season brought more struggles and another demotion, though Torkelson returned on Aug. 17 to put up a 125 wRC+ down the stretch and help spur Detroit’s run to a wild-card spot.

Those gains have carried over into 2025 in a major way. Torkelson ranks in the 93rd percentile or better in xwOBA (.407), expected slugging percentage (.598) and barrel rate (17%). His walk rate is up to a career-best 13.4%, all while his swinging strike rate has seen a slight decrease. Torkelson is hitting more line drives, fewer infield pop-ups and has unlocked the raw power that enabled him to be drafted with the top pick despite his defensive limitations.

Those two aren’t alone in elevating the Tigers’ fortunes, of course. The 2018 draft that brought Mize into the fold also saw the team select outfielder Parker Meadows and reigning Cy Young Award winner Tarik Skubal. Detroit took All-Star outfielder Riley Greene with the No. 5 pick in ‘19, and also snagged Kerry Carpenter in the 19th round that year. Colt Keith and Dillon Dingler joined Torkelson in ‘20, while Jackson Jobe and Jace Jung were the Tigers’ first-round selections in ‘21 and ‘22, respectively.

Help has come from all corners of the roster. There’s the savvy signing, trade (that netted starting shortstop Trey Sweeney and top catching prospect Thayron Liranzo) then re-signing of Jack Flaherty; adding veteran Gleyber Torres to a one-year deal this offseason; even Javier Báez has come around after looking like a sunk cost during the first three seasons of his six-year, $140 million contract. Add all of this together under the guidance of a proven manager like A.J. Hinch, and the ingredients are all in place for a team with real staying power to make noise for the rest of the decade.

Early May is not the time for crowning teams or players for what they have accomplished in a month-and-a-half. These Tigers haven’t earned their stripes yet. But after a long road through some dark times, the stage is set for sustained success in Detroit.


This article was originally published on www.si.com as Tigers’ Path to Top of American League Is Years in the Making.

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