Tigers’ Power Outage Puts Their Playoff Aspirations at Risk
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Between June 1 and the trade deadline, the Detroit Tigers led the American League with 87 home runs. They started with a thunderous pace of 49 home runs in June and raised their average to 5.4 runs scored per game.
During the streak, Dillon Dingler and Spencer Torkelson led the team with 12 home runs, respectively, followed by Riley Greene, who hit 11. Kevin McGonigle (8) and Colt Keith (8) also joined the power streak that fueled the team’s improvements after the puzzling month of May.
The story has changed after the trade deadline. Injuries have hit Detroit, but the main problem has been the concerning drop in power.
After registering a 4.3 HR% rate during the stretch between June 1 and August 3, when the trade deadline closed, the Tigers have plummeted to 2.0 HR%. That 2.3 percentage-point reduction is the worst in the entire league since the trade deadline.
Power has not been the only bad news in this offensive slump the Tigers are going through. In slugging, they have dropped from .460 in the previous stretch of 52 games to .351 in the last 23 games. This situation has caused the Tigers to drop from scoring 5.4 runs per game to 3.9.
The major breakdowns have to do with the lack of power, timely hits and quality of contact. It would be enough to look at the fWAR and the differences in ISO and wRC+ of both stretches: 9.8 fWAR, 111 wRC+ and .204 ISO in the stretch between June and the trade deadline. In the most recent one, ISO has been reduced by 61% with 1.6 fWAR, dangerously moving away from the league average by registering 85 wRC+.
Although Detroit is striking out slightly less (21.8%) since the trade deadline and is recording more walks (8.7% compared to 8.5% previously), it has not been able to put together enough quality at-bats.
Dingler and Torkelson Need to Respond
For the first time all season, Dingler and Torkelson have combined for more than 150 plate appearances (153) without hitting a home run.
Torkelson’s last home run was his 20th of this campaign, on July 29 to tie the game 9-9 in the bottom of the twelfth inning at Comerica Park against the Baltimore Orioles. Torkelson swung at a high slider from right-hander Rico García on the first pitch and hit that two-run home run that found Eduardo Valencia on base.
Since that game when the Orioles ended up winning 10-9 in twelve innings, Torkelson has no home runs in 70 trips to the plate. His OPS is .643 with 89 wRC+ and only five RBIs. The devastating slump joins Dingler’s difficulties at the plate. The last time he hit a home run was on August 6.
At that time, he had done it for the third consecutive day against Seattle Mariners pitchers. Finishing that game, he had hit seven home runs in his last 16 games with 18 RBIs and a 1.125 OPS in 74 plate appearances. The Tigers went 10-6 during that stretch of Dingler’s thunderous power.
However, starting August 7, the problems began. He has not been able to hit a home run in his most recent 83 trips to the batter’s box, he has struck out 20 times and his OPS fell to .310. Detroit is 7-13, a reflection of what Dingler’s contribution, Torkelson’s power and Greene’s absence mean.
During the current negative streak, McGonigle has been the spark of the lineup with 13 RBIs, even though his OPS has also fallen below .700 (.666). Hao-Yu Lee and Max Clark have also contributed, but their profiles are far from offering the power provided by the trio of Dingler, Torkelson and Greene.
A lot of credit has to be given to the pitching, because without the offensive contribution that supported the rotation during June through early August, the pitchers have managed to avoid a greater chaos. The Tigers have lost 19 of their last 25 games, and in only two of the six victories have they scored six or more runs.
With 10 games below .500, the expectations of reaching the postseason are decreasing for Detroit. And, while their main sluggers do not respond and the run production does not improve, most of the pressure will fall on the shoulders of the pitchers.
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Yirsandy is a baseball writer specializing in MLB coverage with experience across multiple teams and storylines. He currently writes for Diamond Centric, where he covers the New York Mets, San Diego Padres, Chicago Cubs, Milwaukee Brewers, and Kansas City Royals. My work focuses on game coverage, player analysis, and storytelling that connects performance with context. My Substack has also been an important part of my writing development, where I’ve built much of my baseball coverage and storytelling voice over time. I’m passionate about combining reporting, research, and thoughtful analysis to produce engaging baseball content for readers.
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