DETROIT (WXYZ) — After losing a 15-inning winner-take-all game with the Seattle Mariners, the Detroit Tigers were eliminated from the playoffs early Saturday morning.
The Tigers advanced to the American League Divisional Series after beating the Cleveland Guardians, the team that ended up winning the American League Central. The Tigers finished the regular season with an 87-75 record. Detroit had double-digit lead over their divisional foes for a large portion of the season, propelled by an impressive 38-21 start over the first three months of the season. Detroit's lead over the Guardians was up to 15.5 games before the Guardians overtook them in the division in the final week of the regular season.
7 News Detroit was in attendance for the Tigers final media availability of the 2025 season, with Tigers President of Baseball Operations Scott Harris and manager A.J. Hinch taking questions for about an hour.
Below are some key quotes & takeaways from the press conference, which started off with Harris expressing remorse for the Tigers being eliminated.
"I wish we weren't here right now," Harris said in his opening statement. "We were really close to being in Toronto right now, but we're not."
Harris did address the collapse the team had in September, while acknowledging the Tigers did play well in the first five months of the season.
"We deserve the negative narratives that are swirling around this team," Harris said. "Any time you sequence the season the way we did, we deserve to have those questions, and I can't be naive to how we performed in September...we got to get better in a whole lot of areas."
When asked about the trade deadline, where the Tigers added five players, with only two of those players — right-handed pitchers Kyle Finnegan and Rafael Montero — being on the postseason rosters. Harris said he did not regret the deals made at the deadline, based on the performances of the players who were moved at the deadline.
"I don't think I've ever gone through a deadline completely satisfied with the results," Harris said. "I would tell you that the players that were most closely connected to us via the media would have cost us a player on our roster plus additional pieces or a top prospect plus additional pieces."
Harris and Hinch were asked about possible disappointment at the deadline, in not taking what would be perceived as big moves in free agency. Harris wants to look at what changed in their offense later in the season, and see if those offensive struggles were a "blip on the radar" or part of a larger trend to be concerned about. Harris said that if he had a chance to do it again, he would have tried to get ahead of the challenges Detroit's young hitters faced.
"I think the offensive performance down the stretch is a fair question on if we should have done more," Harris said, saying he has been reflecting on whether or not the team should have added a bat. "We had the eighth-best offense in baseball across five months...that's a team we could reasonably expect to be playing in Toronto right now.
The future of Tarik Skubal has been a talking point among the fanbase for more than a year now. Skubal, the reigning AL Cy Young winner, has been a big reason for the Tigers clinching a postseason berth. Across 31 starts this season, Skubal has put up a 13-6 record, posting a better ERA (2.21), a better WHIP (0.891), and more strikeouts (241) than his Cy Young-winning season. He has one year left on his current contract, and will be a hot commodity if he does hit free agency.
Harris said he could not comment on the future of Skubal as a Tiger or get into hypotheticals, but he did say that owner Chris Illitch will provide full support to do what is needed to keep this team as good as possible.
"Tarik is a Tiger, I hope he wins the Cy Young for the second consecutive year," Harris said. "It would be arrogant and tone-deaf of me to assume that we could do all this stuff without him...he's here and we're glad he's here."
Harris mentioned the following as two main areas of improvement that the organization will focus on in the field:
- Why approach at the plate deteriorated as the season went along
- Contact hitting; Harris said the team "needs to move the ball in the big leagues more than we are
Harris did acknowledge that, after making the ALDS in two consecutive seasons, the expectations for this team have shifted. He mentioned that he's trying to make the environment as good as possible for young players to thrive.
"The expectations have changed around here," Harris said. "We're trying to play a six-month season instead of a seven-month season."
Harris and Hinch reiterated that Hinch, who has been extended with the Tigers twice, will be the man to lead this team long-term.
"I can't tell you enough how happy I am to be with the Detroit Tigers," Hinch said. "All of us are on board to bring a World Series here, and that's why I want to be here."
The exact terms of Hinch's contract were not disclosed, per a team policy that prohibits publicly talking about non-player contracts. Hinch also said a full discussion has not yet been had about the current coaching staff, with the manager praising the staff for "squeezing every win" out of this team.
Harris did stress the importance of walking the tightrope between staying competitive while also continuing to develop young players, stressing that he's not rushing young players to supplement the current young core.
"I think the trend-line of this organization is really important, and how we've done it is really important," Harris said. "That's not going to change, and we're going to stay on these development paths."
Watch our previous Tigers coverage
