DETROIT — A.J. Hinch still had not gone through all the unread congratulatory texts on his phone when the Detroit Tigers’ preparation for the proverbial “hangover game” began.
After so much excitement the night before, this day was dark and dreary. “Borderline Gotham City,” Hinch said. There was a lengthy delay, and after nearly two months of adrenaline, a slow nine-inning slog.
The Tigers lost to the Chicago White Sox 4-0 in the penultimate game of the regular season. Sunday is the finale. Their postseason opponent is still to be decided. They will play either the Orioles in Baltimore or the Astros in Houston.
So with the postseason now a reality, here’s a preview of the team’s biggest questions and decision points.
How many pitchers for the wild-card round?
Because the wild-card round is only three games max, there’s a strong chance the Tigers will have only 12 pitchers active for the series. Some teams have even used as few as 11 in shortened series. The Tigers already have to cut the roster from 28 to 26. Going with only 12 pitchers would allow the Tigers to retain Justyn-Henry Malloy and Jace Jung for help against left-handed pitching.
For now, the Tigers are leaning toward carrying an extra bench bat rather than an extraneous arm they’d prefer to stay away from anyway.
But a disclaimer: Never rule out a surprise with Hinch and Scott Harris making these maneuvers.
Where does Jackson Jobe fit in the puzzle?
Although he’s one of only two Tigers players with playoff experience, Kenta Maeda is the likely choice to be the first pitcher left off the roster.
But what other pitcher could miss the wild-card round? That’ll be an interesting one, and likely Detroit’s toughest decision. Casey Mize is one player at risk. He’s not going to work as a starter, and he’s only pitched once so far out of the bullpen, where his stuff did not tick up. Ty Madden, who has a 4.30 ERA and was not effective Saturday, could be an even more probable option.
The real question in all this is what the Tigers will do with Jackson Jobe. Would they really throw the rookie into a pressure-packed situation in the playoffs? Jobe has only pitched twice since his promotion, neither in a true leverage setting. He has never entered a game with runners on base. But he does have the capability to miss bats, and he did shut down the White Sox on Saturday, going three innings and allowing no hits and a walk while striking out two batters. (And for the record, Jobe did not actually have to clean up the entire Tigers clubhouse after Friday’s postgame celebration. “Everyone was just messing around,” he said.)
The Tigers are 21-12 against left-handed starters this year, but they haven’t exactly fared well against lefties in recent days. Since the Tigers’ hot streak intensified Aug. 13, Detroit has only a .648 OPS against left-handed pitching compared with a .749 OPS against right-handed pitching.
A big part of the concern has been the slumping Andy Ibáñez. A bona fide lefty killer for the first half of the year, Ibáñez is hitting only .165 with just three extra-base hits since July 21. The Tigers hit him leadoff Thursday and Friday to get him reps and jump-start his bat. Ibáñez finally responded with a double Friday.
Despite his struggles, Ibáñez is likely a lock for the playoff roster. He still has huge upside against lefties and remains a chess piece opposing managers have to be cognizant of in late-game situations.
The Tigers just need to hope they can get Ibáñez to settle down in the box and reclaim his first-half form.
“He wants it so badly when he’s in there, and sometimes that makes him a bit over-anxious, maybe swinging too much,” Hinch said. “Nobody is more prepared than him, and no one has more energy in their at-bats than Andy.”
What will the pitching look like?
Tarik Skubal is starting Game 1 on Tuesday. Signed, sealed, delivered.
“Getting him in Game 1 is pretty awesome,” Hinch said.
But after that?
Expect more of the same pitching shenanigans we’ve witnessed each of the past two months. Reese Olson and Keider Montero are candidates to work as starters. It’s just as likely the Tigers will opt for openers and bulk relievers as they have so often in their miraculous run. Trying to map out whom the Tigers will throw is a fool’s errand. And might that be to their advantage?
“Even given my experience, I’ve never done the opener in the postseason, and we haven’t even had our full personnel meeting on how we’re going to attack whoever we play,” Hinch said. “I’m going to try to keep everybody guessing just as much as I have with you guys for the last two months.”
Can the magic continue?
The question was asked about a million times in the midst of Friday’s postgame celebration. Asked Thursday whether the Tigers’ play as of late was magic or something else, Hinch said, “I don’t know, but if so, bottle it up and keep bringing it to the ballpark. … Getting to the ballpark every day, there’s a renewed energy every single day. Whether that’s magic, whether that’s momentum, whether that’s vibe, whatever, we love it and we want more of it.”
Then Friday night came more quotes.
“Now it’s a playoff-bound team,” Hinch said. “We checkmarked that box, and now we can try to stack more and more wins to create an even more special summer.”
“I’m just excited that we got in,” Harris said. “Hopefully, we can do some damage in October.”
How far could they go?
“As far as it takes us,” Riley Greene said. “We’re gonna keep believing until it happens.”
(Photo: David Rodriguez Munoz / USA Today Network via Imagn Images)
