By Steve Adams and Anthony Franco | March 30, 2021 at 10:38pm CDT The Tigers will open the season with Miguel Cabrera lined up at first base, manager A.J. Hinch told reporters this morning (Twitter link via Jason Beck of MLB.com). “I think he gives us the best chance to win at first base,” Hinch
Detroit Free Press Show Caption Hide Caption Detroit Tigers GM Al Avila: ‘From Day 1, we emphasized winning’ Detroit Tigers general manager Al Avila discusses Tuesday, March 30, 2021, the progress he saw from his team in spring training. Evan Petzold, Detroit Free Press For the first time since 2019, Detroit Tigers fans — if
The Detroit Tigers are like an Abbott and Costello routine come to life… Me: Who’s on first? Tigers manager AJ Hinch: Everybody. Me: Everybody? Hinch: Yes, everybody. Me: At first? Hinch: Right. [ Miguel Cabrera will start at first base on Opening Day ] Me: Let’s start over. Let’s say Castro is at shortstop. He gets
Detroit — For general manager Al Avila, it must feel a little bit like coming to the end of a long, dark tunnel and seeing, at last, some light. Thursday will be Avila’s 20th Opening Day with the Tigers and his sixth as the general manager. But it might well be the first one in
No one can see the future, not even those guys on Shark Tank. But that didn’t stop some of us at the Free Press from peering into the gloom to try and figure out what’s in store for the Detroit Tigers during the 2021 season. Five Free Press sports writers — Evan Petzold, Carlos Monarrez,
The last time a player wearing a Tigers uniform did it was on a Tuesday night in September 1974, at Baltimore, where a crowd that might or might not have been as large as the 11,492 listed watched a game between Detroit and the Baltimore Orioles. Leading off the Tigers’ fourth, Al Kaline stroked a
Last year, we saw Albert Pujols tie and then pass Willie Mays for fifth-most home runs all-time and Mike Trout reach 300 career home runs to become the Angels’ all-time leader, among various career milestones. With each new baseball season, there are always more milestones to look out for — and 2021 is no exception.
These are the numbers that will sustain us. This year’s Spring Training meant the return of prospect statistics that felt even more important following the lost 2020 Minor League season. Through Statcast measurements, some of the game’s best young talents have put up figures that have wowed fans and evaluators alike once again. Now that
Detroit — As the Tigers begin their 2021 season, here are some intriguing storylines we will be following. The second wave One of the persistent and, frankly, unanswerable questions every team in baseball faces this season is how to govern the workloads of pitchers, especially starting pitchers, coming off a pandemic-shortened 2020 season. The Tigers have two rookies
Before you click away and leave an angry comment about clickbait, keep in mind where I am coming from. According to FanGraphs 2021 Power Rankings, the Detroit Tigers are projected to have the worst bullpen in all of baseball with a total fWAR of 1.1. But do they have a case for their projections? Let’s…
Cleveland heads into the season looking to lean on its stars to keep its window of contention open for another run at the postseason. The Tigers return to Motown with a new manager looking for a fresh start and an influx of young talent looking to turn the corner on their rebuild and begin the
Lakeland, Florida – Goodbye, spring camp. When the Tigers reconvene at TigerTown in 2022 they pray all the issues and inconveniences that haunted them the past year will be tucked into a pandemic’s history. No more COVID-19 masks. No more puny, socially distanced crowds at Publix Field. No more rules against stopping by a restaurant
The sound off the bat was loud, the volume that Spencer Torkelson is expected to make when he connects with a pitch. It carried toward the berm in left-center field at Joker Marchant Stadium in Lakeland, Fla., an estimated 409-foot drive according to Statcast, before Rays center fielder Miles Mastrobuoni caught it on the warning
Dave Birkett, Carlos Monarrez and Shawn Windsor share their thoughts on the NFL adding a 17th game to the schedule and more Detroit Lions news.
By Mark Polishuk | March 30, 2021 at 1:41pm CDT The latest on coronavirus-related situations around the sport… The Astros announced that Myles Straw, Abraham Toro, and Garrett Stubbs have rejoined the team after clearing COVID-19 protocols. (MLB.com’s Brian McTaggart was among those to report the news.) The trio were absent for contract-tracing purposes in
Detroit Tigers fans don’t need to worry about Spencer Torkelson. Spring training doesn’t mean anything, and the jump from college baseball to the big league is enormous. He still has all the talent in the world, and he’s probably going to demolish minor-league pitching.
When the Tigers take the field Thursday to the pageantry of Opening Day at Comerica Park, Miguel Cabrera won’t be watching from the dugout, waiting for his first at-bat. He’ll be manning his old, familiar spot at first base. “Miggy’s going to play first, absolutely,” manager A.J. Hinch said. “I think he gives us the
LAKELAND, Fla. — The Detroit Tigers lost to the Tampa Bay Rays, 5-0, on Tuesday at Publix Field at Joker Marchant Stadium, finishing 13-12 in Grapefruit League play, with four ties. The Tigers return to Detroit on Tuesday night before Thursday’s Opening Day against the Cleveland Indians at Comerica Park. Left-hander Matthew Boyd is the
For the second year in a row, Detroiters are losing a beloved, but unofficial, holiday to the pandemic: Opening Day at Comerica Park. Last year, Opening Day was delayed as the baseball season was postponed. When the season finally started in July, the city was a ghost town of its usual boisterous self. In addition
Detroit — It was early in camp and some of the young infielders were getting a little goosey during a drill. A play was missed. One of the players tried to laugh it off and AJ Hinch, just a week into his first full-squad workouts as manager of the Tigers, lost it. He stopped the drill