Proving Last Season Was No Fluke Will Be Challenging for Detroit Tigers
The Detroit Tigers have entered the offseason with much different expectations than in years past.
It was an amazing season for the Tigers in 2024. Thanks to a strong second half of the campaign, Detroit got momentum and rode it right into the postseason. Making the playoffs snapped a lengthy drought for the Tigers, and it has also drastically changed expectations for 2025.
Now that Detroit has proven that they can not only make the postseason but win a series, they certainly won't be taken lightly next year.
Despite having some holes to fill to improve the team, the Tigers have been fairly quiet this offseason. However, with the new calendar year here, there are still top options to improve the franchise.
Zachary D. Rymer of Bleacher Report recently spoke about a New Year’s Resolution for each team in the majors. For the Tigers, he spoke about them proving that 2024 was no fluke and highlighted that it has been a bit of a concerning offseason so far in terms of upgrades.
“Now all the Tigers have to do is keep winning games in 2025. They haven't had the most encouraging offseason in this respect, though that could change if they score one or more of the free-agent stars on their radar.”
Proving that 2024 was no fluke is going to be challenging for Detroit, because a lot of things went right for them. While they were able to make the playoffs and become one of the best teams in the league in the second half of the campaign, they were by no means a perfect team.
The starting rotation had a lot of question marks last year outside of Tarik Skubal, and the lineup lacked punch at times.
So far this winter, there haven’t been a lot of major upgrades to solidify some of these issues. The signings of Alex Cobb and Gleyber Torres fill needs, but likely won’t be the moves that sustain the success or build upon it.
One player who could be the answer to some of their issues is Alex Bregman. The two sides have shown interest in each other, but seem far apart on the numbers.
The market for the talented third baseman seems to be a bit cooler than he or his agent Scott Boras likely anticipated, but Detroit remains an excellent fit.
In their division alone, the competition is going to be steep as shown last season. If the Tigers are going to replicate the success of last year, they will need their young core to continue to get better, and adding some more talent to solidify things would help as well.
