DETROIT – Two weeks ago was my personal version of Christmas Eve.
It was the day before Opening Day -- the real Opening Day, when the vast majority of MLB teams would play for the first time in the regular season.
For those of you who followed along throughout spring training, you know I was optimistic about the Detroit Tigers’ chances to be better than advertised. It was a cautious optimism, but it was optimism all the same.
If you would have told me back then that the Tigers would win seven of their first 11 games, I would have been thrilled.
But now, considering how they got here, I’m not quite as optimistic.
The primary reason for my preseason optimism has actually held true: This bullpen is excellent. In 43 innings of work, Tigers relievers have allowed just seven earned runs while striking out 44 batters and pitching to a 1.05 WHIP, .172 opponent average, and 1.47 ERA.
All eight relievers have an ERA south of 3.00. Six have a WHIP below 1.15. It doesn’t get much better than that.
Tarik Skubal is also as good as advertised. Sure, he ran into a rocky couple of innings against the Oakland Athletics, but if you’ve actually watched his starts, you can see this is one of the best pitchers on the planet.
Skubal has elite swing-and-miss stuff, suppresses hard contact, and throws strikes. He’s touching 99 mph and getting whiffs with four different pitches.
Unfortunately, that’s where the good vibes end.
While the offense wasn’t necessarily expected to be a strength, it’s even weaker than I ever could have imagined.
Spencer Torkelson’s disastrous spring has carried over into the regular season, as he’s just 9-for-45 without a homer. Popups and overall weak contact continue to haunt him.
Gio Urshela (singles) and Mark Canha (walks) have been on-base machines, but other than a recent surge by Riley Greene, nobody else is hitting the ball with any consistency.
I do think Torkelson, Greene, and rookie Colt Keith -- who doesn’t look the least bit overmatched so far -- will improve. But the overall offensive struggles are worrisome.
Are the Tigers going to get anything at all from Javier Baez? Can Jake Rogers put the ball in play enough to take advantage of his power? Was Kerry Carpenter’s 2023 a fluke?
All I know is that the Tigers are going to face much tougher pitching than they have to this point. In 11 games, they’ve been shut down by eight different starters: Garrett Crochet, Sean Manaea, Adrian Houser, Jose Butto, Paul Blackburn, Joe Boyle, Mitch Keller, and Martin Perez.
Crochet might be great, and Keller is decent, but that’s not a very impressive list. Just wait until the Tigers have to face the likes of Pablo Lopez, Cole Ragans, and Tanner Bibee within the division.
I’m also discouraged by Kenta Maeda and Casey Mize. Maeda has no command of his secondary pitches and he’s struggling to touch 90 mph on his fastball. That’s a dangerous combination.
Mize’s fastball is popping, but he doesn’t seem to have any command of his splitter. The pitch is staying up in the zone, and hitters are making him pay. That was a problem for the former No. 1 overall pick even before Tommy John surgery.
You have to wonder how long the Tigers would wait to give Matt Manning a shot if either of that duo continues to struggle.
On paper, the Tigers are still in a good spot. They’re 7-4, one game behind Cleveland, and coming home for eight games at Comerica Park. Maybe Tuesday’s ninth-inning rally against David Bednar and the Pirates will spark the offense, and it’s all uphill from here.
But there are serious reasons for concern, and with the schedule getting much tougher, the rest of April could be a struggle.
