How the Tigers’ Defense Fell Short of Elite in 2025
In this story:
The Detroit Tigers had a bitter ending to their season for the second straight year. Despite a second half collapse the team fought their way into the American League Division Series to take on the Seattle Mariners. After stretching that series to a game seven, they came up short in a 15-inning battle.
Arguably the Tigers survived their demise because of their defense. The pitching staff features Tarik Skubal which always felt like a guaranteed win, so that helped, but with or without him the players behind the pitcher came through time and time again.
No, Detroit did not have the best defense in the league, but they were above average in most aspects in both the National and American Leagues. The problem with the Tigers defensively is that some positions, like catcher and left field, were outstanding while others, like shortstop, were a huge liability.
Overall Defensive Grade: C+
Overall as a team, they consistently found themselves above the league average, but still not amongst some of the elite defensive teams like the Texas Rangers or Chicago Cubs. It all comes down to the positions that are lacking that drag their defense down drastically.
Tigers | League Average | Ranking | |
|---|---|---|---|
Efficency | .702 | .698 | 13th |
Putouts | 4309 | 4308 | 16th |
Assists | 1379 | 1366 | 15th |
Errors | 79 | 82 | 12th/13th |
Double Plays | 128 | 121 | 9th |
Fielding Percentage | .986 | .986 | 12th-16th |
The positions that the Tigers are solid at defensively are first base, Spencer Torkelson, left field, Riley Greene, second base, Gleyber Torres, and catcher, Dillon Dingler. Between them they sit in the top-five in multiple stats at each position.
- Double Plays (second, Torkelson)
- Assists (third, Torkelson)
- Putouts (fourth, Torkelson)
- Range Factor (second, Greene)
- Errors (third fewest, Greene)
- Fielding Percentage (tied for third, Greene)
- Double Plays (tied for fourth, Torres)
- Fielding Percentage (fifth, Torres)
- Putouts and Assists (sixth, Torres)
- Caught Stealing Percentage (first, Dingler)
- Stolen Bases Allowed (first, Dingler)
The fact that Dillon Dingler is able to stand let alone make this throw after 14 innings of crouching is a minor miracle pic.twitter.com/BQjej8Mbvh
— AT (@YankeeWRLD) October 11, 2025
Now, there are nothing but good things to say about the players above, defensively anyways. The problems start everywhere else. There has been a revolving door everywhere especially at shortstop mainly because Trey Sweeney was suppose to get his first real shot playing, but was such a liability at the plate he was optioned back to Triple-A.
Sweeney was actually one of the better shorts in the league which is probably why he stayed on the roster as long as he did, but with the worst WAR on the team swinging a bat, he wasn't consistently on the roster the second half of the year.
Shortstop wasn't the only revolving door, but also in the outfield, excluding left. Then when you look at third base, which was Zach McKinstry who finished 31st in putouts and assists, but he didn't play there the entirety of the year as management couldn't lock down a player.
Ultimately where the team was good defensively, they were one of the best. However, this offseason management needs to be able to commit in other areas and address the continuous cycle of change everywhere else.
Maddy Dickens resides in Loveland, Colorado. She grew up with two older brothers, where their lives revolved around sports. She earned a master's degree in business management from Tarleton State University while simultaneously playing basketball and competing in rodeo at the collegiate level. She successfully parlayed a reserve national championship into a professional rodeo career and now stays involved in upper-level athletics by writing for On SI on several different MLB teams' pages, along with some NCAA sites.