This was supposed to be the year for the Detroit Tigers
A return to the World Series, for the first time since 2012? Maybe. A World Series title, the franchise’s fifth and first since 1984? Less likely, but still … At the least, the franchise’s first American League Central title since 2014, and an end to the longest active drought among the Central’s five teams?
That was the hope after two consecutive ALDS trips and the Tigers entering 2026 with a young and exciting lineup, lefty ace Tarik Skubal (in his final year before hitting the market), free agent addition Framber Valdez (in his first year of an MLB record deal for a lefty) and legendary righty Justin Verlander returning to don the Old English “D” for the first time since August 2017.
Instead, the Motor City got … this: Hitting the MLB All-Star break eight games under .500 – fourth in the Central and 12th out of 15 AL teams. Still, it’s not all bad: Since June 1, they’re 22-14 – the best record in an admittedly slumbering AL, bringing them to 6½ out in the Central and 3½ out in the wild-card chase (albeit with four teams between them and the two teams tied for the AL’s final playoff spot).
Need more reason for optimism? The Tigers own a plus-24 run differential – fifth-best in the AL – and are one of five teams in the AL with a winning record against teams above .500. A total of four Tigers – not bad for a team in the bottom third of the league – are headed to the Midsummer Classic, with Verlander (a “legend” pick by MLB in his final season) joining catcher Dillon Dingler, outfielder Riley Greene and rookie infielder Kevin McGonigle as picks through the players’ vote.
So how did they (and we) get here? Three Free Press Tigers insiders combined on midseason grades for each of the position groups:
Catcher
Tigers catcher Dillon Dingler has already set career highs in home runs (19) and RBIs (60) a little more than halfway through the season. His 131 wRC+ is the best among qualified catchers, and his 3.9 fWAR (per Fangraphs) is the second among the Tigers and seventh among MLB hitters.
His performance doesn’t look like a first-half fluke, either. Per Statcast, Dingler lands in the 96th percentile in Fielding Run Value (8) and the 97th percentile in expected slugging (.528). Those are absurd all-around numbers for any player, much less a catcher in his third MLB season. Simply put, the Tigers have the best catcher in baseball, and maybe we should get used to Dingler’s continued upward ascent.
As for the other Tigers catchers … they’ve been fine? Backup Jake Rogers produced basically no value at the plate over the first two months but has an .850 OPS over 12 games since the beginning of June. Newcomer Eduardo Valencia is still too green to judge, but both he and Rogers bring great vibes to the clubhouse. And aren’t positive vibes the primary job of a backup catcher, anyway?
Grade: A+
Infield
A rising Kevin McGonigle lifts everyone on the left side of the diamond; the rookie hits the break third among all AL players with 4.0 fWAR (per Fangraphs). That’s despite splitting his time between shortstop (with an .842 OPS in 217 plate appearances) and third base (.784, in 192 PAs). McGonigle has been a big reason why Tigers shortstops are fifth in MLB in OPS (.788) – despite 44 plate appearances there by journeyman Zack Short – and their third basemen are seventh (.750). Colt Keith should get some credit for the Tigers’ spicy performance at the hot corner, too; he posted an .848 OPS while playing there, good for third among AL third basemen with at least 130 PAs at the spot. (Keith’s glove at third is mediocre at best, making his stints at DH understandable – but we’ll get to that spot in a bit.)
The right side of the infield isn’t quite so rosy. Gleyber Torres’ .291/.396/.418 slash line has actually exceeded his overall All-Star first half from last season (.281/.387/.425). But, as the aphorism goes, the best ability is availability, and Torres has only made it into 36 of 96 games at second base. That has led to some rough performances at second, with rookie Hao-Yu Lee posting a .680 OPS at in 115 plate appearances at the spot and super sub Zach McKinstry even worse at .505 in 101 PAs.
Which brings us to the Tork in the room. After going the first 23 games of the season without a homer, Spencer Torkelson homered in five straight and hits the break at 16 – a 27-homer pace over the full season. If you want to only start counting pace stats since he finally put a ball over the wall on April 22, he’s on pace for 31 homers in 161 games – matching his totals from 2024 (in 155 games) and 2023 (in 159 games).
Of course, that power surge has also seen his batting eye wither – in that 71-game span, Torkelson has a .299 on-base percentage with a .769 OPS that’s eighth out of 13 qualified AL first basemen. And that’s not to mention the glove that, by most defensive metrics this season, has been the worst of any first baseman in the majors. (Well, perhaps Yankees All-Star Ben Rice has been worse … but he also has 29 homers.) Compare Tork’s surge to former Tigers utility player Kody Clemens – now with the Minnesota Twins – over the same span, and it gets a little uglier; Clemens has 14 homers as part of an .827 OPS (and nearly 1.1 fWAR better on defense at first base alone).
Grade: B-
Outfield
Left fielder Riley Greene has remained one of the key bats in the middle of the lineup, becoming the first Tiger to earn three straight All-Star nods since Miguel Cabrera (2010-14). Greene has played in 95 of the 96 games this season as Detroit’s everyday left fielder. Entering the break, he is hitting .288 with 13 home runs, 45 RBIs and an .848 OPS. In the field, Greene is in the 75th percentile with 1 Outs Above Average (OAA) as a fielder, but ranks in the fourth percentile for arm value, per Statcast. His strikeout rate has dropped to 26.8% after setting the franchise record for punchouts in 2025.
Center field has been a revolving door all season. Parker Meadows has been out most of the season after colliding with Greene in the outfield in Minnesota. Wenceel Pérez struggled before he also went to the 60-day IL with an orbital fracture suffered while training. Matt Vierling has been below replacement level, with minus-0.4 fWAR (per Fangraphs) and a .604 OPS. The Tigers went to the waiver wire to get James Outman, who has played good defense in Comerica Park’s expansive outfield, but he has underwhelmed at the plate with a .567 OPS.
Vierling, Pérez, Kerry Carpenter, Zach McKinstry, Ben Malgeri, Jahmai Jones and Trei Cruz have all appeared in right field, which should tell you something about that group’s collective performance (for a .612 OPS better than just three other MLB teams). McKinstry and Malgeri have been the best options, with 0.1 fWAR accumulated. Hitting .224 with 13 home runs, Carpenter has minus-0.1 fWAR, which somehow minimizes his defensive and baserunning struggles.
Greene has lifted the group around him with his play, but the outfield as a whole has not been one of the Tigers’ strengths.
Grade: C
Designated hitters
Almost no team in baseball has gotten less out of the DH spot than the Tigers; their .610 OPS from DHs is ahead of (though by a large margin) only the Kansas City Royals (.554). And, really, there’s no one player to blame.
Look, most baseball research has suggested about a 5-10% dropoff in performance for position players at DH. But the Tigers have taken it to extremes.
Remember Colt Keith, with an OPS of .848 at third? He’s at .572 in 99 plate appearances (the most of any Tiger) as a DH. Dillon Dingler, with an .883 OPS at catcher? Down to .647 at DH. It’s a familiar issue for all players. Even Kerry Carpenter – possessing a .785 OPS while playing right field this year – forgets how to hit when he puts away his glove, with a .622 OPS in 73 PAs at DH. But the biggest flop at DH over the first half was Jahmai Jones, who posted a .398 OPS at DH before finally being designated for assignment earlier this month.
Grade: D
Rotation
The Tigers entered the season believing the starting pitching would be a strength and, after dealing with early injuries up and down the rotation – two-time reigning AL Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal missed time due to left elbow surgery, while Casey Mize, Jack Flaherty and Troy Melton have spent time on the injured list and Justin Verlander has just one start – a healthy group is living up to those expectations.
The Tigers have the fourth-best starting rotation ERA in baseball (trailing only the Milwaukee Brewers, Tampa Bay Rays and Los Angeles Dodgers) and the second best in the American League at 3.50. Detroit ranks 13th in innings pitched by starters (491⅔) with a 15.7% collective strikeout rate minus walk rate (K-BB%), eighth best in MLB.
Skubal hasn’t been as dominant as he was in his two Cy Young seasons, but he is still thriving with a 3.09 ERA, 89 strikeouts and just 11 walks. Melton has been a revelation, going 5-1 with a 1.82 ERA over eight starts. Mize has followed up his 2025 All-Star campaign with a 2.79 ERA across 14 starts. Flaherty struggled early before stringing together a few good starts before the break. Left-hander Framber Valdez, whom the Tigers signed to a three-year deal guaranteeing $115 million, has a 4.10 ERA and 87 strikeouts across a team-high 107⅔ innings. Keider Montero, who moved to the bullpen, was a solid starter, sporting a 3.15 ERA with the second-most innings.
Grade: A-
Bullpen
Tigers relievers haven’t nearly performed to the level of Tigers starters recently, but they also haven’t pitched that poorly as a collective. Detroit’s bullpen ERA of 3.85 is 11th best in baseball, and its 4.10 FIP is 15th best. By many measures, this is an above-average relief unit, even if only slightly above average.
The trouble is, unlike the starting staff, there are no bona fide dudes in Detroit’s bullpen. The Tigers entered the season with three legitimate high-leverage arms, but closer Kenley Jansen has been ineffective in his 17th MLB season, righty Kyle Finnegan has walked too many batters, and Will Vest, while not pitching as poorly as his ERA (6.08) indicates, might also miss the rest of the season with a stress fracture in his elbow.
Maybe Keider Montero taking his starter-level talents to the bullpen can take some pressure off the rest of Detroit’s relievers, but a relief corps that was middling at best in 2025 does not seem to have the answers in 2026. A league-average bullpen may not be the reason the Tigers miss the playoffs, but if Detroit makes the postseason, it’s not clear who can comfortably pitch the high-leverage innings.
Grade: C-
Manager and coaching staff
As we noted way back at the beginning of this piece, the Tigers still have a winning run differential, with an expected record of 51-45 – which would put them just behind the White Sox and pretty solidly in a playoff spot. So it’s all A.J. Hinch’s fault, right?
After all, the Tigers are 9-16 in one-run games – the third-worst win percentage in MLB. Except they were 21-12 in one-run games last season – the best mark in the majors. Did Hinch suddenly forget to tell his squad how to win clutch games?
Ah, but baserunning! Earlier this month, the Tigers and third base coach Joey Cora parted ways per mutual agreement, according to Hinch. So the aggressively coached Tigers must have run themselves out of too many scoring situations, right? Last season, they had 69 baserunning outs (the most in MLB) in 162 games – one every 2.3 games or so. This season? They have 29 baserunning outs in 96 games – one every 3.3 games.
Dumb replay challenges? Hinch is actually 11-for-18 (61.1%) on those this season, the best mark of his career. (Last season: 12-for-27, a 44.4% mark.) ABS challenges (which are more on players, due to the two-second rule, but still…)? The Tigers’ 54% success rate at the plate and 68% success rate in the field are both tied for third in baseball, and they’re No. 2 in strikeouts overturned by challenge (19, one behind the Orioles’ 20).
The playing time distribution at DH – lefty-hitting specialist Jahmai Jones getting 79 plate appearances, second-most on the roster, while slashing .111/.190/.208 – is far from ideal. But, in Hinch’s defense, Jones had a .289/.379/.554 in 95 PAs all of last season.
Sometimes, even the right decisions produce the worst results.
Grade: B-
The final grade
So what tells the true story of the 2026 Tigers?
Is it the run differential and the All-Stars, which suggest a sleeping giant ready to make a run? Or is it the bullpen with MLB’s second-most blown saves and a lineup still dealing with multiple missing (or ineffective) pieces?
With six sub-.500 teams lined up in the Tigers’ next seven series – the Cubs in Chicago next week is it against winners for a while – we may not know until mid-August rematches with the Guardians and White Sox in Detroit … and the Tigers’ roster could look very different by then.
Grade: C+
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Tigers report card: Starting battery carries the load into midseason
Reporting by Ryan Ford, Jared Ramsey and Christian Romo, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Ryan Ford, Jared Ramsey and Christian Romo, Detroit Free Press | USA TODAY Network
