Tigers Have Huge Issue Brewing That Could Impact Deep Postseason Run

At times, the Detroit Tigers have looked like a team that could win the AL Pennant while others they have looked like a ballclub that won't finish the year above .500.

Apr 1, 2026; Phoenix, Arizona, USA; Detroit Tigers manager AJ Hinch against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field. | Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

Professional baseball is officially a month underway and some teams are starting to separate themselves from others, but most of the American League is slumped together with teams all around the .500 mark including the Detroit Tigers.

At times, the Tigers easily look like a ballclub that oculd take home a pennant while other times this team has shown they could miss the playoffs entirely with one clear issue sticking out like a sore thumb — road trips.

When playing at Comerica Park, Detroit is fairly hard to beat as they sit at 10-3 on the year. However, in the 20 games that the Tigers have played outside of Michigan, they have won six.

It isn't fair to point the finger at one aspect of the roster and say, "this group needs to perform better for away trips." Both the pitching staff and the hitting lineups don't perform well right now.

Clearly it is far from an anomaly for a ballclub to do worse away from their home turf, fans, etc. However, when the postseason comes around teams will be forced to play in hostile conditions and the ones who will do well in October will have to steal games on the road.

Home vs. Away For the Tigers

Riley ties it up! pic.twitter.com/PyfHFqWKz4

— Detroit Tigers (@tigers) May 2, 2026

When playing at Comerica, the Tigers have one of the best batting averages in baseball as the unit is hitting .268 to complement an OPS over .800. On the other hand, both drop dramatically as they bat a .238 with an OPS under .700.

Key guys like Spencer Torkelson, Kerry Carpenter, and Riley Greene are not finding a rythym at the plate during road stretches as the trio are barely hitting over .200 and have all struck out 20+ times.

Same story different stat line as the pitchers are doing significantly better on their own mound as well, again with one of better ERAs in baseball to the bottom third when in a somewhat difficult place to play.

The only reason any of this should be taken with a grain of salt is simply because of the devastating blows recently with walk-off homers. So, that is a different issue in itself, but at least a more specific one to take a look at as the Tigers try to find a closer.

Detroit has a nice homestand to kick off the month which hasn't been much of a problem. If they can get healthy, specifically Casey Mize and Javier Baez, then they can take on their next away stretch firing on all cylinders.