In some ways, A.J. Hinch had to laugh. This was the first time in this three-year tenure as Tigers manager that he'd fielded a post-game question about ... the Pistons. Detroit's basketball team was front and center Tuesday night, even as its baseball team continues to play well. The Pistons, once again, had their hearts broken in the draft lottery.
Misery is what we've come to know. And it has way too much company in this city. Entering Tuesday, the Pistons, Red Wings and Tigers were responsible for the worst winning percentages over the last five seasons in the NBA, the NHL and MLB. Our greatest hope right now is the Lions, who have the third-worst winning percentage over the last five seasons in the NFL (but are favored to win their division for the first time in 30 years).
Shortly after the Pistons lost the lottery, the Tigers beat the Pirates to jump Pittsburgh by 100,000th of a percentage point as MLB's second-worst team over the last five seasons. The winds of change? Or just a gust of cruel coincidence? With the Tigers creeping back toward .500 after a horrid start and with the Pistons crawling back into their draft bunker to treat their Wembanyma wounds, Hinch was asked if he ever reflects on how it would feel to bring this baseball team back. All the way back.
"We need to always remember how good a fanbase Detroit fans are, really across all sports and especially the Tigers," he said. "I’ve been here when the place is incredibly packed and they’ve shown tremendous support. They’re waiting for the next really good team and we want to earn their respect, earn their attendance and play the brand of baseball that makes this city proud, because we know this city’s going to respond. We’re aware of how great an opportunity we have."
For the record, the misery runs deeper than half a decade. It's a full decade for the Tigers, who have the fewest wins in baseball over the last 10 seasons. That's a sad reality for a franchise and a fanbase that not so long ago was celebrating stars and division titles. Now the Tigers are trying to fix a failed rebuild, but they're showing signs of progress under Hinch and new president of baseball operations Scott Harris.
A few from Tuesday night: Riley Greene and Spencer Torkelson combined for five hits to continue their march through May and Michael Lorenzen delivered his third shutdown start in a row in the Tigers' 4-0 win. Detroit will hand the ball Wednesday to Eduardo Rodriguez, who's been one of the best pitchers in the bigs this season. The Tigers are 17-12 since a 2-9 start and starting to give their fans a reason to return to Comerica Park, where they once showed up in droves.
Hinch said Wednesday that getting back to .500 is a short-term goal for the Tigers. It's something they haven't achieved past the 40-game mark of the season since 2017, the beginning of the end for the Tigers as we knew them. For one, said Hinch, it would provide "an emotional boost" for the players, who are "hungry to be a good team." For another, "the fans can get the boost they deserve."
"What the players don’t experience that the fans have is this big carryover effect over the last five, six, seven, 10 years, because they weren’t here," said Hinch. "We don’t entirely know the fans' experience because we haven’t experienced it with them."
At the same time, they're beginning to understand it. Hinch played here in 2003 on the worst Tigers team in franchise history and has managed here against some of their better teams, including in 2009 when empty seats at Comerica Park were rare. He also felt the fanbase stir in the summer of 2021 when his Tigers played winning baseball for a few months in a row. This sleeping giant would be happy to wake up.
"We know the fans have been waiting for a while," said Hinch. "We hear about it all the time, I get asked about it, the players get asked about it. We just have to focus on our work and let the byproduct be the wins."
They hear about it so often, because the Tigers haven't been heard from in years. They haven't made legitimate noise in a decade, their last playoff win coming in 2013. These Tigers are beginning to murmur. If they keep raising their voice, the whole state of Michigan will roar in approval.
"We know what’s at the end of this," said Hinch, "when we get everybody on board."
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