Tigers Seeks Series Opening Win over Giants with Red-Hot Lineup
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If there is a team to be rooting for right now in the American League, it has to be the Detroit Tigers, who seemingly sold out at the trade deadline but are refusing to go down without a fight.
Most notably, Tarik Skubal was dealt to the reigning world champions, but the front office also traded away their No.2 pitcher, Casey Mize, who is now playing for the San Diego Padres. But there are still a lot of games left to be played, and going into Friday night's action, the Tigers are a measly game out of the final wild card spot.
That being said, Detroit is looking to close out its nine-game road stretch as strongly as it started, where they put up 32 runs against the Athletics, and take its third series on the West Coast. The offense has been obliterating pitching staffs, so it isn't shocking to see AJ Hinch trot out a near-identical starting lineup night after night.
The absolute dominance from Max Clark since stepping into the majors, as well as Dillon Dingler's MVP campaign, make it fairly easy to put out an elite order, and when a team figures out what works, great things happen.
Tigers Starting Line Ups Friday Evening at Oracle Park
Nine times out of 10, since Gleyber Torres' return from the dreaded injured list, he has been coming up to bat in the second position, right behind the team's for-sure leadoff man, Kevin McGonigle, with Dingler as the No.3 man whether he is catching or the DH.
For the series opener against the San Francisco Giants, Dingler will be the man behind the dish, meaning Eduardo Valencia has the night off.
- 3B Kevin McGonigle
- 2B Gleyber Torres
- C Dillon Dingler
- LF Riley Greene
- DH Colt Keith
- 1B Spencer Torkelson
- CF Max Clark
- SS Javier Baez
- RF Zach McKinstry
Most valuable players across MLB this season, as measured by fWAR:
— Tigers PR (@DetroitTigersPR) August 7, 2026
1. Pete Crow-Armstrong — 7.8
2. Shohei Ohtani — 6.7
3. Yordan Alvarez — 5.7
4. Dillon Dingler — 5.6#DNMW pic.twitter.com/3Nubf0iWbb
While the Tigers' pitching staff took some big hits with the losses of both Mize and Skubal, they have looked pretty elite this road trip. In the first six games of this stretch, they have shut out teams three times and allowed one run in another.
Friday night, Keider Montero will look to quickly set the tone, and as he is coming off a six-inning shutout while posting a 2.70 ERA in his last seven games, expect him to do just that.
Detroit might not have been buyers at the deadline, but that doesn't mean its season was simply over. If they head back to Comerica Park with another sweep, the ballclub will be .500 for the first time in a very long time, and firmly in control of their playoff destiny.
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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.