Detroit, MI
Detroit Tigers still learning who they are. Especially the newest one, Manuel Margot
Detroit Tigers signed Manuel Margot. Scott Harris explains why
Detroit Tigers president of baseball operations Scott Harris talks to reporters March 24, 2025, about signing outfielder Manuel Margot.
LOS ANGELES — Manuel Margot still doesn’t know all of his teammate’s names on the Detroit Tigers.
Still doesn’t know all the coaches and support staff.
And he doesn’t even have a Tigers bat bag.
His old Milwaukee Brewers bag was on a cart outside the clubhouse, stacked with all the Tigers ones.
Sunday marks Margot’s time on the Tigers at a week — he signed with the Tigers on their last day of Grapefruit League play in Florida — but he has already made a strong first impression.
“I feel good,” he said Saturday night after the Los Angeles Dodgers finished a three-game sweep of the Tigers with a 7-3 victory Saturday night.
Margot has been one of the bright spots in a Tigers offense that struggled to produce in clutch moments against the defending World Series champions. Margot played in two games in this series, going 3-for-5, while knocking in a pair of runs.
“Try to see the ball and swing at strikes,” he said. “I try not to chase.”
OK, so he might not know everybody, but he’s already speaking the Tigers’ language.
Unfortunately, here’s the harsh truth about this three-game series: Far too many of his teammates were not able to follow his lead.
The good news: The Tigers put runners in scoring position 32 times against the Dodgers, setting up a ridiculous number of opportunities to do something amazing against the team with five wins already this season.
The bad news: The Tigers came through in the clutch just four times. Ugh. Completely unacceptable.
“When you look back, we could have won some games because of how many opportunities we gave ourselves,” Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said. “So you want to look at it positively? Keep giving yourself as many punches as you can. If you want to be frustrated, look at the results. Because it wasn’t great with how it ended, how those at-bats ended.”
Here’s the other good news: Hinch doesn’t see any panic in his team.
But he is also realistic about what his team needs.
“We’re going to need the big hit obviously,” he said. “We’re not doing anything wrong. We’re not pressing. We’re not worked up about it. But it’s our reality.”
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Strange days indeed
In some ways, this series felt historic. It was the first time in franchise history the Tigers opened the season against the Dodgers, on a weekend they celebrated their World Series championship — gee, thanks MLB.
And it was the first time the Tigers have opened their season on the West Coast in 25 years.
Also, lost in the moment was how so many Tigers have never experienced this before. This was the first time that six Tigers have been on an Opening Day roster: right-handers Beau Brieske, Brenan Hanifee and Jackson Jobe; left-hander pitcher Brant Hurter; infielder Trey Sweeney; and catcher Dillon Dingler.
So, all of this is still so new to them. Just being part of this.
But there were some high marks.
Consider Spencer Torkelson.
On Opening Day, he reached base safely in all five plate appearances, with a solo home run and four walks. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Torkelson became the seventh player in Tigers history to walk four times and homer in the same game. (The others? J.D. Martinez, Roy Cullenbine, Jason Thompson, Rob Deer, Travis Fryman and Cecil Fielder.)
Torkelson’s four walks tied for the most by any player on Opening Day in American League history — that dates back to 1901.
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And when presented with Hinch’s good news/bad news approach to putting so many runners in scoring position, Torkelson found the positive side.
“I think that’s pretty encouraging, especially against this caliber of a team,” he said. “There’s not a single hole in their lineup. There’s not a single arm in the ‘pen or starting pitcher that you can take for granted. They’re a really good team. We had opportunities and, couple pitches every night going our way, we’re winning this series. So that’s encouraging.”
So, that’s the state of the Tigers after the first series.
Encouraging signs.
Disappointing results.
“But still,” Torkelson said, “it sucks to get swept.”
Contact Jeff Seidel: jseidel@freepress.com. Follow him on X @seideljeff.
DETROIT, MICH (WXYZ) — In partnership with The ALS Association, downtown Detroit parks will shine red May 10–16 in recognition of ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease) Awareness month.
A special kickoff event will take place from 7:30 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. on Sunday, May 10, in Campus Martius Park. The event will allow families impacted by ALS to connect, learn about upcoming initiatives, and take part in a meaningful “END ALS” photo moment under the illuminated park lights.
You can reserve you spot by visiting:
https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=JlhGrOr9-kWQmmR_rZc61S9MfqDjPeBKvKV5YBqkMypUQThNMEs5TVpLRUY5R1FLV0o1WFExN1U4Uy4u
Detroit Tigers blow lead, lose to Kansas City Royals on walk-off hit.
The Tigers lost, 4-3, to the Royals on Kyle Isbel’s walk-off single in the ninth inning.
Kansas City, Mo. — The losing streak is now five games. The road record is now an MLB-worst 6-16.
The Kansas City Royals prolonged the Tigers’ misery Saturday night with a relatively breezy 5-1 win at Kauffman Stadium.
Oh, and the Tigers might’ve lost another player in the process.
Right fielder Kerry Carpenter left the game in the third inning. He banged his left shoulder running into the side wall chasing Bobby Witt Jr.’s first-inning, two-run, inside-the-park home run.
Witt, a right-handed hitter, sliced a drive inside the bag at first. Carpenter chased it toward the side wall, but the ball caromed past him. Witt never stopped running.
Carpenter stayed in the game and even rolled an infield single in the second inning. But he was replaced by Wenceel Perez when the Royals came to bat in the third inning.
BOX SCORE: Royals 5, Tigers 1
He was being evaluated during the game.
The two-run homer by Witt ended up being more than the Tigers’ sputtering offense could overcome. But, for good measure, Michael Massey added a three-run home run off Ty Madden in the fourth inning.
Madden ended up being one of the few bright spots in the game for the Tigers. He pitched six innings and allowed just one other hit. He set down the last 11 hitters he faced.
He entered in the third inning after opener Burch Smith and lefty Tyler Holton worked one time through the Royals’ batting order.
Holton made a nifty escape in the first inning. With runners at second and third and one out, and two runs already in, Jac Caglianone hit a hard ground ball to second baseman Zach McKinstry, who was playing in on the grass.
McKinstry got the out at first. The runner at second, Carter Jensen, mistakenly broke for third where Vinnie Pasquantino was holding.
Spencer Torkelson threw to shortstop Kevin McGonigle who threw to catcher Jake Rogers once Pasquantino broke for home — your basic 4-3-6-2 double-play.
Not much else went the Tigers’ way.
Royals right-hander Michael Wacha snuffed out the few scoring opportunities the Tigers mustered.
He worked around an error and a McKinstry stolen base in the third innings. He got Jake Rogers to pop to shallow right field with runners at first and third and one out and then got Matt Vierling to ground out with the bases loaded in the fifth.
Wacha allowed two hits in seven innings. The Tigers put 18 balls in play against him with a soft average exit velocity of 84.4 mph.
The Tigers broke through in the eighth against lefty reliever Matt Strahm. And it was left-handed hitters who did the dirty work. Riley Greene, who extended his career-high on-base streak to 20 games, doubled home McGonigle.
This season is a long way from over but Tigers, 18-22, are in serious need a course correction.
Chris.McCosky@detroitnews.com
@cmccosky
4Warn Weather – SATURDAY: Mostly cloudy skies. A chance of showers and thunderstorms. A few storms could be strong with gusty winds and hail. High: 71.
SATURDAY NIGHT: Mostly cloudy skies, becoming partly cloudy skies late. Low: 45.
SUNDAY (MOTHER’S DAY): Mix of sunshine and clouds, cooler temperatures. High: 61.
SUNDAY NIGHT: Partly cloudy skies. Another chilly night. Low: 41.
MONDAY: Mostly sunny skies, remaining chilly. High: 58.
After a beautiful end to the week on Friday with sunshine and a little cloud cover, with warmer temperatures moving into the region as well, some of us are waking up to some patchy dense fog on Saturday morning. Some places south of M-59 are seeing reduced visibilities down to around a mile. If you do run into some patchy dense fog, be sure to use your low beams.
That warming trend continues into the start of the weekend on Saturday, but it also brings a chance of showers and thunderstorms. Another cold front will work through the region by Saturday afternoon and early Saturday evening and that will bring our thunderstorm chance. High temperature is warming into low 70s by Saturday afternoon.
The Storm Prediction Center has placed most of the region under a Marginal Risk (1 out of 5) on our severe weather scale for the start of the weekend. Gusty winds and hail are the primary threats as we work through the start of the weekend, but this will not be a widespread threat for severe thunderstorms.
Behind that cold front for the end of the weekend on Sunday, we will keep a mixture of sunshine and clouds into the forecast. High temperatures running about 10 to 15° cooler to end the weekend. Expect high to warm into the upper 50s to lower 60s by Sunday afternoon.
Drier weather sticks around for the start of next week, before another chance of rain moves into the region by the time we get to Tuesday. The cooler-than-average temperatures will continue into the start of next week as well. Expect high temperatures to remain in the 50s for Monday and Tuesday.
Temperature start to warm up by the middle of next week, and Drier weather moves back in by Wednesday behind another cold front moving into the region. Expect high temperatures into the lower 60s on Wednesday to warm into the upper 60s by the time we get to Thursday. Above average temperatures move back into the region as we look ahead into the end of the week, expect high temperatures back into the lower 70s by the time we get to Friday.
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