Trade Deadline Decisions Are Coming Back to Haunt Tigers During Stretch Run

What should the Detroit Tigers have done at the trade deadline?

Detroit Tigers president of baseball operations Scott Harris talks to reporters about trading for starting pitcher Chris Paddack on July 28, 2025, at Comerica Park in Detroit, Michigan. | Evan Petzold / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

After being swept by the Cleveland Guardians, the Detroit Tigers might be getting a little bit nervous with their lead in the American League Central dropping to 3.5 games. The Tigers haven't played well of late, and now things are starting to get dicey. 

With just nine games to go, including three more against the Guardians, it is now all of a sudden not a sure thing that Detroit is going to be winning the AL Central. That would have been a crazy thing to say a couple of weeks ago, but the team has struggled quite a bit, and the door is now wide open for Cleveland. 

Due to the struggles of the franchise, multiple things have been going wrong of late. The offense that was much improved compared to last year in the first half of 2025 has been nowhere to be found, with multiple key players struggling. However, that isn’t the only issue, and it might not be the most pressing either, come playoff time. 

Kerry Miller of Bleacher Report recently wrote about the Tigers not doing enough to upgrade their starting rotation at the trade deadline as something that could come back to haunt the team in October. 

Rotation Has Been Poor

Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

While Detroit didn’t sit on their hands at the trade deadline, knowing that they had this need, they also didn’t make a splash to really improve. Adding Charlie Morton and Chris Paddack provided depth to the unit, but while depth is important during the regular season, this team needed another frontline starter. 

Tarik Skubal has been excellent for the team once again this campaign and will be the AL Cy Young award winner for the second straight year. However, despite having the best pitcher in the AL on the team, the rotation has been a mess for the Tigers. 

Jack Flaherty hasn’t been able to live up to the expectations of being the No. 2 pitcher for the team this year, and that is a major problem. This could once again be a team that is going to rely heavily on their bullpen. 

That did work for Detroit in the second half of the 2024 campaign and in the playoffs, but this is a bullpen that hasn’t been as good this season. Unfortunately, the team can’t go back and add a frontline starter in a trade now, but they certainly should have.