On Tuesday, the Tigers became the first team in the majors this season to 50 wins. With half the schedule behind them, they're tied with the reigning world champion Dodgers for the best record (50-31) in baseball. A.J. Hinch doesn't like to think in the big picture, but said before Thursday's rubber match with the A's, "I am very, very proud of where we are at the midpoint of the season."
"When you go day by day, series by series, when you stack up against the Cubs, probably the best National League team that we’ve faced, we’ve still got the Phillies and the Mets on the docket, the Giants are pretty good, you start looking at the series you’ve won and the series you’ve lost, there’s a lot more that we’ve won than we’ve lost," Hinch said on 97.1 The Ticket. "I think we’re in good position to have a very special summer. We just have to do a lot of work to get there."
The Tigers have won 17 of the 25 series they've completed thus far. They took sole possession of first place in the AL Central on April 5 and haven't looked back, widening their lead to 8.5 games, the biggest margin for any division leader. They haven't been quite as crisp in June, but they're still above .500 this month.
Of course, there's plenty of baseball to be played.
"We’ll see what (other) teams look like down the stretch, who stays healthy, how things change during the trade deadline," said Hinch. "There’s just a lot of moving parts to be this predictor of the next 81 games, too many variables. But we have a good team, we have a winning team, and we have a team that I feel we can stack up against anybody. And that, to me, is a good start when you’re trying to win big series."
Other highlights from Hinch's interview on 97.1 The Ticket
On the emergence of Wenceel Perez: "I’m glad you brought him up, because he is pretty understated and very underrated. No. 1, he’s playing a position that he never played until the upper levels of the minors. And he looks like someone who has played outfield his whole life, which is a great job of development by our (player development) people and our outfield coaches here in the big leagues. The other part is, he’s been an instrumental part of the lineup construction that I've put out there because we really believe in the bat. He can move the ball forward, he puts the ball in play, he is a switch-hitter who’s predominantly been better left-handed, he’s done some work on his right-handed swing and we’re seeing better production.
"He’s not the name that everyone recognizes or the guy that everybody thinks is a key cog, but having a switch-hitter who I can move up and down the lineup and play him in any outfield position with the production that comes with it has been needed. You need somebody else to pick up the pieces when other guys are scuffling, and Wenceel has been that guy for us."
On Spencer Torkelson's struggles in June: "He’s had a tough month. I’ve seen it with a couple guys as they get beat up a little bit or they start seeing some O-fers, they start to expand the strike zone a little bit. Tork's been OK with his swing decisions and his at-bats, but he hasn’t really put it together for those 8-, 10- 12- 15- at-bat series recently. I gave him a day off in Tampa and gave him one coming back here, just trying to re-set him and get him back into the flow of just, contribute against the guys that you can.
"He’s back in there today in the 4 hole, we believe in him, we know he’s good. You gotta ride some of these peaks and valleys throughout the season. In a season where he’s going to get 600 or 650 at-bats, these little 20-, 30-, 40-, 50-at-bat times are just part of the grind."