It's been a long trade deadline for the Tigers, "dating back to May," said A.J. Hinch. "That was the first question I got about a deadline that is in August."
"I don’t think it wears on us because it’s our reality. It’s where we’re at, it’s what we do, it’s obviously a hot topic, and I’m just trying to make it normal for our guys because it’s going to be in our everyday no matter what," Hinch said Friday on 97.1 The Ticket.
Several weeks ago, the Tigers looked like sure sellers. They were 16 games under .500 at the start of June, with less than a 10 percent chance of making the playoffs, per FanGraphs. They have the second best record in the majors since. Their playoff odds have nearly quadrupled.
With nine winnable games between now and the Aug. 3 deadline, the Tigers could make a case to the front office to be buyers.
They're both well aware of the big picture, and "taking it one day at a time," Dillon Dingler said after delivering the decisive hit in the Tigers' 4-3 win over the Royals Thursday night.
Dillon Dingler is winning with brains and brawn at the plate, James Outman's homer had some help from "the Hand of God," and the Tigers know what's at stake in the next nine games -- "because obviously if we lose things will be different."
Hear from Dingler, Outman, Hinch ⤵️ pic.twitter.com/oz6DYStZ00
— Will Burchfield (@burchie_kid) July 24, 2026
"Ultimately we do have an impact on it, because obviously if we lose things will be different," Dingler said. "We’re going to play the game that we’ve been playing all year. We’re playing really good ball right now, I’ve been saying that, and we’re going to keep on doing that and whatever happens, happens."
At the center of the conversation is Tarik Skubal, who could be making his final home start with the Tigers on Friday night. That's one way of looking at it. The other is, "We’re coming off a big win last night, we’re coming off a big series win (against the Cubs), and we have Tarik Skubal pitching. We feel good as a team," said Hinch.
"Just trying to shift (the conversation) back to our team and winning, and much less about speculation, guesses, and things that our out of all of our control," he said.
The Tigers have won five of their last six series. They enter Friday 6.0 games back in the division with three teams to jump and 4.0 games back in the wild card race with five teams to jump. The climb will be hard. The easy thing to do would be selling assets like Skubal, Casey Mize and Gleyber Torres at the deadline and punting on the rest of the season.
They're trying to make that as difficult as possible on Scott Harris and the rest of the front office.
"I think we have a good team, and I’ve said that over and over: we have a good team and a bad record, and our bad record is getting better by the series," Hinch said Friday. "I try to get our guys focused on what’s at hand. We have a four-game series against the Royals, we have three against Baltimore, then we play Sacramento, and then the deadline hits.
"There’s a ton of attention and anxiousness around the deadline, in the sport and in the industry. You guys talk about it every day, it’s a big topic. When you wake up on the other side of it, there’s going to be 40, 50 games left to make an even further push, so I’ve learned not to get too worked up either way and just get to the task at hand. The best case we can make is to keep winning series."
May was miserable for the Tigers. They still might not overcome it. But they've given themselves a chance by playing cleaner defense, throwing more strikes early in counts, and hitting for more power by making better decisions at the plate. The rotten American League continues to be a lifeline.
With the Tigers in a jam in the ninth inning Thursday night, Hinch acknowledged the stakes when he called on Kyle Finnegan on a night that Hinch didn't plan to use him. Finnegan had pitched twice in the Cubs series, including Wednesday night, but the Tigers were clinging to a one-run lead, the Royals had men on first and second and one out, and Hinch decided his team had "earned the right to go for it."
Finnegan delivered by getting Salvador Perez to ground into a game-ending double play.
"We have a lot of toughness in this group, we do have some perseverance," Hinch said afterward. "We’ve stayed in the fight — we’re in it. Our methodical way of way of going about our business is being rewarded, because we didn’t make too much of (May), but we didn’t make too little of that, either. And once we got going playing better baseball ... I just think we’re built for the marathon, and this has been a marathon.
"And we’re not even close to the point where we can settle in, because we’ve got plenty ahead."
