The Tigers started the 2026 season with AL contender expectations; May sent it into a tailspin they couldn’t overcome.
Preseason Expectations: They Were Singing High Praises in Motown
The 2026 expectations were sky high for the 2026 Detroit Tigers. They entered the season with reigning and consecutive back-to-back Cy Young Award winner Tarik Skubal. With his contract situation, they decided to go all in (more on that later). They also signed top-end starter Framber Valdez to a three-year, $115 million contract and an old familiar face, three-time Cy Young winner and future first-ballot Hall of Famer Justin Verlander. Put it all together, while also keeping Gleyber Torres at $22 million on his qualifying offer, and the Tigers had a top-ten payroll at around $240 million. They were expected to have one of the better pitching staffs in the American League and all of baseball. Most analysts/experts expected the Tigers to win the American League Central Division fairly routinely (myself included). Though the 2026 season went anything but routine.
The Mediocre Start: A Little of March and April
The Tigers started their 2026 season on the West Coast in San Diego and Arizona. After winning the first two games, the Tigers would lose four straight and be 2-4 in their first six games. The first signs this season was just not meant to be was in a four-game series in Minnesota April 6th-9th. Casey Mize, Skubal, and Valdez were lined up to pitch the first three games of the series, seemingly giving the Tigers a big advantage. Mize gave up five earned runs in 4.1 innings, Skubal gave up four earned runs in 4.1 innings, and Valdez gave up eight earned runs in five innings, including six runs in the first inning. Then, in the series finale, the first major injury happened. Parker Meadows and Riley Greene collided in the eighth inning, leaving Meadows with a concussion, a fracture in his left arm, and a mouth laceration. Meadows wouldn’t play again all season.
The series and week that really set off injury dominos was the series in Atlanta. The Tigers entered that series 15-14 and tied for first place in the division. They lost the series 2-1, though two games was just the beginning of what they lost against the Braves. In the first game, Mize suffered a groin injury that put him in the injured list. A few innings later, Javy Baez hit a ground ball, and the inside throw made him duck and jam his ankle awkwardly on first base. He left the game on a cart and wouldn’t return until July. The middle game of the series was perhaps the biggest blow to the season. Skubal started the game and pitched seven innings. Though, in his last inning, he threw a pitch to Matt Olson, then shook his left arm. He said he was okay; he finished the inning by striking out the side. It turns out, he wasn’t okay. A few days later, it was announced he would need surgery to remove a bone chip.
That set the month of May in motion.
The Ides of “May,” Not March: The Tailspin Was Quick, Like a Stab
A few days into May, yet another crucial injury hit. Gleyber Torres hurt an oblique sliding into home in Texas. In a matter of days, four crucial players, experienced players, hurt and were gone for a long time.
The Tigers did win the series against the Rangers, though that would be their only series win and the only time they won consecutive games the entire month of May.
They would go 3-17 in their next 20 games, which took them from tied for first place to 10 games back in the division that quickly.
That twenty-game stretch included:
- A three-game sweep to the Boston Red Sox
- A 2-1 series loss to the Kansas City Royals
- Those series included a five-game losing streak
- A three-game sweep to the New York Mets
- A 2-1 series loss to the Toronto Blue Jays
- A four-game sweep to the Cleveland Guardians
- A 2-1 series loss to the Baltimore Orioles
From the Blue Jays series to the first two games of the Orioles series, they lost eight games in a row.
The last two series of the month, they lost five of six: two games to the Los Angeles Angels and a three-game sweep to the Chicago White Sox.
The offense left much to be desired. The Tigers scored 81 runs, hit 18 home runs, and had a team batting average of .204.
They ended the month 6-22 in May and 11.5 games back of first place in the division. The damage was seemingly done to a season with high expectations.
A New Tune in June: The Cats Came Back, the Very Next Month
After going 6-22 in May, the last place you want to see is the first-place team in the American League on the road. That is exactly who the Tigers had to face: the Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field.
Good news had come late in May. Troy Melton was back, and he provided a big lift to a starting rotation that was in need.
Melton would earn the win in the last game of that series to secure the sweep of the Rays. The Tigers would win six of their first seven games of June.
June also brought back good news. Skubal would return to pitch in just 38 days. He made his return against the Guardians on June 13th. They did lose that series, but getting Skubal back was a boost.
Momentum was starting to build and maybe signal this team had a run left in them.
The Tigers went on a four-game winning streak that included a three-game sweep of the Chicago White Sox and one win against the New York Yankees.
They would finish the last eight games of June going 3-5, 15-11 overall in the month, and nine games back of first place.
July: The Series and Game That Will Live in Infamy
July was again a very good month for the Tigers. The first game of the month capped off a sweep of the New York Yankees.
They followed that up with a series win against the Rangers and a sweep of the Athletics. They won seven of their first eight games of the month.
That run put the Tigers all of a sudden 4.5 games back of first place, and there was reason to believe they weren’t done yet.
By mid-July, the rumors were flying regarding Skubal, the most coveted player at the trade deadline. For a while, it seemed like it was a foregone conclusion that Skubal would be traded. Though the June and July run by the Tigers made the decision harder, at least for a few weeks.
A seven-game homestand against the Royals and Orioles would decide Skubal’s fate, specifically the last game of the series against the Orioles.
The Tigers entered that homestand six games back and had been playing well for six weeks. They faced a Royals team that was 43-60 and already out of the race. The Tigers won the first two games of the series, looking good. Then the weekend happened.
The Royals won Saturday’s game, coming back from behind with home runs in the seventh and ninth innings. Sunday was all but the same. The Royals came back and took the lead in the eighth inning with a home run.
Splitting that series was a momentum killer, even foreshadowing what was to come next.
The Orioles and Tigers were both close in the Wild Card race. The Tigers all but had to win this series to justify keeping Skubal. The first two games were split, Skubal himself on the mound to win the series.
The Tigers were winning 7-0 heading into the seventh inning. Then it all fell apart, not just the game, but the rationale to keep Skubal.
Once again, the bullpen let a game get away. The game was tied in the eighth inning.
The game ended in 12 innings, the Tigers took another lead late, and one thing was clear to president of baseball operations Scott Harris.
The Tigers weren’t only too far back, but they weren’t good enough to justify keeping Skubal. They had to trade the back-to-back reigning Cy Young Award winner.
August: The Trade and a Spark Arrived a Month Late for Enough Fireworks
The trade deadline was just a few days into the month on August 3rd. The Tigers would be heading to the West Coast to face the Athletics, Seattle Mariners, and San Francisco Giants. The question wasn’t if, but when Skubal would be traded.
On Saturday, August 1, during the game against the Athletics, news broke that Skubal had been traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Not long after, Casey Mize would be traded to the San Diego Padres.
The Tigers had made their decision; the 2026 season was now about the future, not the present.
Speaking of the future, Max Clark (nicknamed Spark), the Tigers’ top prospect, made his debut in the series against the Athletics. He came out with a bang, going 3-4 with two doubles in his debut and then hitting a home run in his second game in the Majors.
Jackson Jobe also made his season debut on August 8th against the Giants, pitching well in a win.
Overall, even after trading their two best pitchers, the Tigers went 7-2 on that nine-game road trip and were 3.5 games back of first place.
Of note, none of the three teams on that road trip finished with a record above .500. The schedule got much harder, including four series against eventual playoff teams: the Guardians, White Sox, Rays, and the Dodgers, who included a familiar friend.
The Tigers would go 4-8 against those four teams and only win one series against the Guardians. The Guardians was also the only series they would win the rest of the month.
The Tigers would finish 11-16 in August, and it was clear: the youth and inexperience wasn’t good enough against good teams. Though that shouldn’t have been a surprise, it was a consequence of the plan.
The Tigers were nine games back to end August.
September: Wake Me Up When September Ends
September was a long month. It did provide some great moments and memories, and even a six-game winning streak.
By this time, the full-on youth movement and “let’s see what they can do” attitude was in full effect.
Veterans like Riley Greene, Dillon Dingler, Spencer Torkelson, Baez, and Torres gave away playing time to younger/less experienced players Ben Malgeri, Hao-Yu Lee, Brett Callahan, and Eduardo Valencia.
A six-game win streak across three series did bring the Tigers to five games back of first place with eleven games to play. Though they promptly lost four of five games, and three of those were to the first-place White Sox.
Kevin McGonigle set a franchise rookie record when he reached base for the 261st time against the Nationals.
The highlight of September was future first-ballot Hall of Famer Justin Verlander making the final start of his career. Injuries had limited Verlander to only one start prior to September 26th against the Pirates, and he didn’t disappoint.
Verlander went a strong 5.1 innings, threw 91 pitches, and struck out six batters. Perhaps the best moment was when his daughter Genevieve came to the mound to take the ball from her dad for the last time.
The Tigers weren’t going to let Verlander go out with a loss. They battled back, and Valencia hit a two-run walk-off home run for a 4-3 victory.
September felt ceremonial, though the Tigers did finish the month with a winning 13-12 record.
The Tigers ended the season 76-86, a disappointing season that entered with such high expectations.
The Tigers' front office has a lot of work to do for the 2027 season.
