Tigers Biggest Strength Goes Hand in Hand With Greatest Flaw Against Guardians
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If it feels like the Detroit Tigers have played the Cleveland Guardians a lot recently, it's because they have. Six of the Tigers' last 12 regular-season games came against their arch-rival, and now the two clubs are set to face off in the American League Wild Card round.
These teams are incredibly evenly matched, with Detroit finishing the year with an 87-75 record and the Guardians edging them out by a single game, turning in an 88-74 performance. In head-to-head matchups, the Tigers went just 5-8 against Cleveland, marking the biggest reason why the Guardians were able to erase a historic deficit and wrestle away the AL Central crown.
As evenly matched as the two teams may be, they have wildly different strengths and weaknesses. Detroit has a true ace leading its rotation. The Guardians do not, but have a deeper group of starters overall. Cleveland has an elite bullpen. Detroit's pen has been its Achilles heel, but its lineup is vastly superior.
In the sameness, there are an incredible number of differences between the two clubs, making this one of the most fascinating matchups of the postseason. One key Tigers strength over the Guardians could be the key to the club breaking the series open, but only if they can contain the negative aspect that comes along with it.
The Tigers Need To Maximize This Key Strength Without Succumbing to Its Downside
In The Athletic's (subscription required) playoff preview of the upcoming series, analyst Eno Sarris noted Detroit's biggest advantage over Cleveland, as well as how the Guardians have neutralized it to this point.
"They’ve played each other ad nauseam this season and to a near standstill, probably because the Guardians’ best strengths are built to neutralize the slim leads the Tigers have in the rotation and the power department. To wit, Detroit slugged under .400 against Cleveland despite owning a considerable slugging lead in all games played. Can the Tigers continue to get more out of their bullpen than the predictive peripherals say they should? That might swing the series."
Sarris isn't wrong. While the Tigers might not be an elite slugging team like the New York Yankees or the Los Angeles Dodgers, Detroit was above average with a .413 team slugging percentage, which ranked 11th in baseball.
The Guardians, on the other hand, slugged an anemic .373, coming in ahead of only the pitiful Pittsburgh Pirates. Detroit hit 30 more homers than Cleveland this season, with 198 long balls versus 168. The Tigers ranked 10th in the majors and the Guardians ranked 20th.
The downside for Detroit is that the power production comes with a lot of strikeouts. The club's 23.9% strikeout rate was the fourth highest in the majors. No player exemplifies this more than outfielder Riley Greene, who led the team with 36 homers but also became the first player in franchise history to eclipse 200 strikeouts in a single season.
This is where things get tough. Cleveland's pitching staff was one of the better groups in the league at generating strikeouts with a 22.8% rate that ranked 12th. In the bullpen, they are even more formidable, led by closer Cade Smith, whose 104 strikeouts were the third-most among all relievers.
Another thing the Guardians' hurlers do well is suppress homers. The club allowed 1.05 HR/9, which was the sixth-best mark in the bigs.
To vanquish their hated rivals once and for all, the Tigers will need to tap into their sizeable power advantage much better than they did during the regular season. They'll also need to do so while minimizing the whiffs that have plagued them at times and very often go hand-in-hand with elite power production. If they fail in this regard, the season is likely over.
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Based in the New York City area, Stephen has been a passionate sports fan since childhood, with baseball having always had a special place in his heart. Stephen took the plunge into freelance sports writing back in 2024, covering the New York Jets and the Brooklyn Nets for empiresportsmedia.com. Since then, Stephen served as Co-Site Expert for FanSided’s Los Angeles Angels site Halo Hangout and hosted the Bleav in Angels Podcast. He then moved on to cover a wide array of teams across FanSided’s MLB division. Stephen also covers the New York Jets for The Jet Press and the San Francisco 49ers for Niner Noise and now provides his baseball knowledge and expertise to MLB On SI. When Stephen is not writing, he enjoys spending time with his young daughter, attending concerts, cooking, and wondering if the New York Jets will ever win a Super Bowl in his lifetime.