The 2026 baseball season is over for the Detroit Tigers. To call it a disappointment feels like understatement. Profound understatement. I don't think I've been this downhearted since the 2006 World Series loss.
There were some good signs. It will be an injustice if Kevin McGonigle is not the American League Rookie of the Year. Hao-yu Lee also had a solid rookie season, and Max Clark has looked good since being called up around mid-year. Dillon Dingler has shown he's an everyday backstop. The team had a couple of feel good moments to boot. Justin Verlander's farewell counts as one, of course, but the emergence of Eduardo Valencia ranks high as well. He spent a lot of time in the minors yet has shown his mettle in the bigs. From a position player standpoint, the future looks good.
Pitching, especially relievers, failed miserably, so we should expect an overhaul in that department. The Tigers lost too many games against division rivals, and that 6-22 month of May alone likely killed the season, although the 3-16 stretch in August, right as they were on the cusp of controlling a playoff spot, cut deep.
They lost too many one run games. Their record was a dismal 19-28 in contests decided by a single score. But how do you improve on that? Even the nerd boys in the sabermetrics office believe that one run wins or losses are basically matters of luck, and they eat numbers like Garfield scarfs lasagna. If they have nothing to offer, what else can be said?
I'll still watch a lot of the playoffs because, hey, it's baseball, and we have a whole 'nother month of games yet. But 26 just seems like a classic 'what if' season for the hometown Nine. They should have been better.
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