Three Stars Tigers Need Consistency From in 2026 To Take AL Pennant
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The offseason for the Detroit Tigers had been extremely passive up until a few days ago when the organization swooped up one of the few remaining top free agents, starting pitcher Framber Valdez. That one signing turned the last few months from flop to not. Now, the Tigers are a frontrunner to battle for the American League Pennant.
It has been nearly 15 years since Detroit has taken home a pennant and advanced to the World Series, and while it felt like last year was going to be their chance, they cracked under the pressure. Again.
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On paper, this is an incredibly talented roster from the starting rotation to the bullpen to their bats. 2025 brought them a pair of first-time Silver Slugger Award winners: outfielder Riley Greene and utility man Zach McKinstry.
While both were able to check the award off their career bucket list achievements, they are both in need of finding consistency at the plate if the Tigers are to make a run in the postseason, as well as their first baseman, Spencer Torkelson.
At a quick glance, it is baffling that any of these three would have been deemed a liability last season, but the lows were too low for all three of them, especially in their postseason run.
Riley Greene's Need To Value Plate Appearances
There were only two players in baseball last season that had over 200 strikeouts on the year, one of which was Tigers outfielder Riley Greene as he struck out in more than 1/3 of his plate appearances. On top of that issue, his performance after the All-Star break was dramatically worse.
To start the season Greene was batting a .284 with a near .550 slugging percentage and an .879 OPS. When Detroit's second-half demise was well underway his batting average dropped to .218 with an OPS under .700.
Postseason Struggles For All 3
At the end of the day it really doesn't matter how elite a player is with a bat if they can't perform when it matters most, like in the playoffs.
Zach McKinstry had an underrated season in 2025.
— DataBase Hit (@DatabaseHit) January 13, 2026
His positional versatility is vital to the Tigers lineup construction (played 5+ games at 4 different positions). pic.twitter.com/UvIKbGaqAe
The Tigers played in eight games between the Wild Card round and the ALDS. In that time the best batting average between the trio was with Greene, with a whopping .212. Torkelson and McKinstry averaged a .180.
Striking out was far more common than it should have been as these three alone combined for 30. The batters were unable to perform well when their season was on the line
At the end of the day, this team should have absolutely no trouble winning their division and getting back to the playoffs. But, if they're not able to make contact with the ball at the plate, then their fate is already sealed.
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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.