Detroit Tigers Manager A.J. Hinch Says Team's Goal is to Win AL Central
The Detroit Tigers are setting some big goals for the 2025 season, and it would involve doing something they haven't done in a decade.
Tigers manager A.J. Hinch talked about next year at the Winter Meetings and while he acknowledged how fun the run in 2024 at the end of the season was, it's a far from ideal way to build a winning organization. Hinch spoke about the the hurdles his team will now have to clear with the goal of trying to take the next step and was very open and honest about the fact that progression and attaining their goals is not going to be easy.
"I think the biggest challenge for a young team, and I've seen this before, is not looking backwards as you're trying to progress," Hinch said via the Detroit Free Press. "We can't repeat last season. We're not trying to repeat last season. We're trying to do better. We want to win the AL Central...We want to put ourselves in a better and better position moving forward...and you can't do that by looking backwards. That was a fun run and a fun time and a memorable playoff chase for us, and now, we start over again."
The way Detroit's season went in 2024 is far from an ideal way to go about things. Sitting 9.5 games out of the playoffs in late August, the Tigers actually sold off their most tradable assets at the deadline because it didn't appear they were going to be anywhere near contention.
Instead, the young core responded with one of the best months of baseball in the history of the franchise while given a less than 1 percent chance to make the playoffs to make the postseason and come within a game of making the ALCS. Now seemingly knocking on the door of taking the next step, Hinch knows that a complete season in which they can attack the division first before even thinking about any other goals must be at the forefront of the team's mind.
It's easy to let minds wander after a run where a group of inexperienced players got their first taste of postseason success, but looking at the 2024 season as a whole, the same group that got hot at the end and got so close to glory really overall had a not great season.
Putting together a more complete season and winning the division is the most important goal for Detroit before they can even think about anything further than that.
