Tigers' Offensive Explosion to Keep Season Alive Came Out of Nowhere
In this story:
The Detroit Tigers played one of their most exciting games of the year on Wednesday afternoon to keep their campaign alive and force a decisive Game 5 of the ALDS against the Seattle Mariners.
If the Tigers do go on to win this series with Tarik Skubal on the mound to advance to the American League Championship Series, not a whole lot of people will remember what things looked like before the fifth inning on Wednesday.
But when thinking about how Detroit got here with the incredible opportunity in front of them to advance to their first ALCS since 2013, it's hard not to think about the way it looked like things were headed.
Tigers Offense Saved the Day in Game 4
The Tigers were lucky to win Game 1, then they dropped Game 2 despite a solid performance from Skubal due to the fact they could not hit. Game 3 was even more deflating, as the life was sucked out of Comerica Park due to a poor offensive performance until a couple of garbage time runs were added late.
Things appeared to be headed that way in Game 4, also, as Detroit's bats just could not get anything going. They looked like the team that blew a 15.5-game lead in the season's final months. But in the fifth inning, something clicked.
It started with a double from Dillon Dingler to plate Zach McKinstry all the way from first base. One hit led to two, and then suddenly, a team that looked as inept as ever with the bats in their hand were stringing together pieces of hard contact in an assembly line.
That resulted in Javier Báez tying the game with a single in the fifth inning that brought a third run across the plate.
JAVY TIES IT.#BUILTFOROCTOBER pic.twitter.com/DYzP6Sr7ZR
— Detroit Tigers (@tigers) October 8, 2025
Then came the sixth inning. Riley Greene stepped up to the plate in a tie game amid what has been a brutal and strikeout-filled stretch for him at the plate. But instead of weltering away from the moment, he rose to the occasion.
Greene crushed one of his longest home runs of the season that gave his team the lead. Then after that, the power hitting display was fully in session.
RILEY GREENE FOR. THE. LEAD. 😤#BUILTFOROCTOBER pic.twitter.com/plyBbMmxP9
— Detroit Tigers (@tigers) October 8, 2025
After Greene's blast, Báez had the best moment of his bumpy Tigers career by breaking the game open and putting Detroit in a spot where it looked to be a lock that they were going to get a chance to get their ace back on the rubber with the season on the line in Game 5.
JAVY BÁEZ IS IN #POSTSEASON FORM!!! 💣 pic.twitter.com/cO7ZOFGZeJ
— Detroit Tigers (@tigers) October 8, 2025
Baseball can be a funny game sometimes, and this case is no different. When things have not gone a team's way, and quite frankly gone the opposite way for so long, all hope can become lost. Not only for the fanbase, but in the dugout as well.
Even though the Tigers were shaken, this team never lost hope that they would turn things around with the bats. And that faith paid off with the kind of offensive explosion fans in attendance will tell their grandchildren about should Detroit continue this epic run.
It's never quite known where the spark is going to come from, but it arrived for the Tigers when they needed it.
More Tigers News
Michael Brauner is a 2022 graduate of the University of Alabama with a degree in Sports Media. He covers various MLB teams across the On SI network and you can also find his work on Yellowhammer News covering the Alabama Crimson Tide and Auburn Tigers as well as on the radio producing and co-hosting 'The Opening Kickoff' every weekday morning on 105.5 WNSP FM in Mobile, Alabama.