New-look Tigers aren't going away. Can they steal division?

Toward one corner of the clubhouse, Kenley Jansen recalled the last time he was nervous on a baseball field, 15 years ago during his first Opening Day at Dodger Stadium. In another corner, in front of the locker that used to belong to Jake Rogers, Max Clark beamed about a debut that was barely 15 minutes old.

Here are the Tigers, at the intersection of old and new, letting go of what was and wondering what might be.

Scott Harris said Tuesday night that he “hated” trading Tarik Skubal and Casey Mize at the deadline. It was an admission that his team had failed; it was not necessarily a capitulation. Harris just couldn’t in good faith pass on the talented young players coming his way given the Tigers’ deficit in the standings and their stumble at the end of July.

“Now, that being said, there’s a lot to like about this team and the way we’re playing right now,” Harris said. “I’m trying to hold those two thoughts in my head, that it was a really difficult decision (to sell), but we’re not conceding anything down the stretch. We got a real chance in this thing.”

The loss that convinced Harris to sell was the collapse against the Orioles on July 29. On that afternoon, in a somber clubhouse in Detroit, Skubal reached the same realization that his time with Tigers was coming to an end. The team boarded a plane for a trip out West, and then it took off.

The Tigers won seven of nine on the road, traded two faces of the franchise, called up another and returned with a little less baggage. After months of fretting about Skubal's fate, the focus shifted back to baseball. On Tuesday afternoon, Kevin McGonigle and Max Clark drove together to the ballpark, like they used to in the minors.

And that night, in the first game of a crucial series against the Guardians, McGonigle drove Clark home with a two-run double in the fifth that broke a 1-1 tie and sparked the Tigers to a 6-4 win, their eighth in the last 10 games.

McGonigle and Clark knew each other from Team USA events before the Tigers took them with their top two picks in the 2023 draft. That night, said McGonigle, they texted each other to say, “Looking forward to sharing the field and playing for a long time together.”

“And it’s just the beginning,” McGonigle said. “Yeah, what a way to open up at Comerica Park with Clark on the squad.”

The Tigers are playing athletic baseball again. They are stealing runs on the bases and stealing outs in the field, hallmarks of their playoff teams the last two seasons. Javy Baez tacked on an insurance run in the 7th when he goaded the Guards into an error by trying to steal third with one out, with Zack McKinstry coming around behind him.

Speaking of, McKinstry made a terrific running catch in right field in the first, McGonigle made a sliding, back-handed play at third to prevent a lead-off double in the fourth, Dillon Dingler erased a base-stealer with a bullet to second that same inning, Baez made a strong play in the shortstop hole, Clark moved quickly in center to keep a single from becoming a double — “the list goes on,” said Hinch.

“Our defense has been significantly different from when we were 30th in the league in May,” he said.

Their starting pitching has been stout all year. The Tigers lead the majors in rotation ERA (3.31); the next five teams in this department are the current betting favorites to win the World Series: the Yankees, Rays, Brewers, Dodgers and Braves. Skubal and Mize obviously had a lot to do with that, but so far, so good without them. Drew Anderson gave Detroit another solid start Tuesday night.

“We didn’t trade any offensive players,” Jansen said after his shaky save Thursday night. “We got rid of two really good pitchers, but when you see (Troy) Melton, when you see (Jackson) Jobe, those guys coming up, you understand why. It’s still the same team that was talking about going deep in the playoffs this year.”

The offense started slowly and cratered in May. But since June, the Tigers lead the American League in runs scored, homers and OPS (.782). They opened the scoring Tuesday night when Spencer Torkelson drove in Riley Greene with a double, the beacons of hope before McGonigle and Clark. Greene later left the game with a hamstring injury, which could be a big void to fill in the middle of the lineup.

The Tigers’ biggest issue all season has recently been better. And while they invited more disaster Tuesday night, with Cleveland scoring in each of the last three innings and bringing the go-ahead run to the plate in the 9th, the bullpen eventually closed the door.

The riskiest move Harris made at the deadline wasn’t trading Skubal and Mize, but declining to add any relievers when there were plenty to be had. He’s placing a big bet on the arms at hand fixing a bullpen that has more blown saves than saves. Just about everyone in Comerica Park other than Jansen could feel the tension when he loaded the bases and surrendered a run, before getting Travis Bazzana to ground out with the tying run on second.

“I have to get better,” said Jansen. “I’m going to keep saying that. I’m way better than who I am this year. If I have to be better, everybody in the ‘pen has to be better.”

After watching Detroit reach the playoffs the last two years, Jansen signed here to win. He still intends to do that. The Tigers’ AL-leading +89 run differential speaks for itself. Meanwhile, the AL Central is collapsing around them. With the White Sox, Guardians and Twins all under .500 since the All-Star break, the Tigers are now 2.5 games back in the division and 1.0 game back in the wild card race. Almost half of their remaining games come against AL Central foes.

“It’s how we finish,” said Jansen. “We all had an awful start. It’s a long season. They’re going to remember you as how you finish and what you do lately for this ballclub. We’re all stepping up right now, and if we step up I don’t think there’s anybody better than us in this division, respectfully. We just gotta be hungry … They’re going to be close games, they’re going to feel like playoff games now, and we just gotta focus on the next day as tomorrow and try to win that game.”

Once upon a time, the Tigers pinned their hopes on Skubal and Mize. Then Torkelson and Greene, now McGonigle and Clark, both 21. Clark says he couldn’t have arrived in the bigs at a better time, in “the best part of the season, the best part of baseball, getting in the playoff hunt, getting into the playoffs and playing in October.”

The Tigers are still a game under .500, with a long way to go. The rotation has to prove it can keep shoving with new parts. The bullpen has to continue pulling its weight, with the same parts. And the Tigers have to hope for good news on Greene, their All-Star in the outfield. Is it possible another just arrived? “From start to finish,” Clark raved about his Comerica Park debut.

“The crowd was into it, I was into it, beautiful night, too, on top of that. You really can’t draw it up any better,” said Clark. “And then of course, beating a rival, and a division rival at that, was huge. It was a good night across the board. Pitching was great, offense was timely and the boys were running the bases well, so it was a blast.”

In a league full of middling teams, the Tigers have stood out for more than two months. Whether they can sustain it remains to be seen, but it’s clear they’re not going away. They’re beneficiaries of their division. They won’t be victims of the deadline.

They are a different team with the same ambitions. And with each win, it’s easier to buy what they’re selling.