• Veteran outfielder Manuel Margot signed with the Detroit Tigers on their final day in Florida.
• He went 3-for-5 in the two games he played against the Los Angeles Dodgers in the Tigers’ opening series.

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.

EARLY RETURNS: Detroit Tigers look like they haven’t missed a beat in 2025 (despite getting beat twice)

“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.

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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.”

ANOTHER ‘NEW’ GUY: Detroit Tigers’ Ryan Kreidler takes ride through wacky weeklong journey to starting lineup

Contact Jeff Seidel: jseidel@freepress.com. Follow him on X @seideljeff.

SOUTHEAST MICHIGAN — Severe storms are expected across southeastern Michigan on Sunday, according to the National Weather Service.

All of southeastern Michigan is under a slight risk (2/5) for severe weather Sunday.

The storms are expected to move into the area between 4 and 11 p.m. Sunday when highs climb into the low 70s, according to the weather service.

Forecasters warned the storms could produce heavy downpours, large hail up to 1 inch in diameter, strong winds reaching up to 60 miles per hour and isolated tornadoes.

Colder air will then move into the region Monday with highs topping out in the low 50s, according to the weather service.

The cold air will stick around Tuesday before another warm-up on Wednesday when another round of showers and thunderstorms could move into the region. Forecasters warned those storms could also become severe.

Here is the full forecast for southeastern Michigan:

Sunday: Storms; High 70, Low 45

Monday: Cloudy; High 52, Low 30

Tuesday: Sunny; High 43, Low 33

Wednesday: Storms; High 64, Low 53

Thursday: Rain; High 64, Low 42

The 2025 regular season didn’t get off to the kind of start that the Detroit Tigers and their ace, Tarik Skubal, were hoping for.

Facing the tall task of going up against the defending World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers on Opening Day, the Tigers came up just short. They lost the game 5-4 as their star had an off night on the mound.

Skubal pitched five innings, allowing six hits and one walk, resulting in four earned runs being scored against him, with only two strikeouts.

That kind of success against the dominant lefty is rarely had. There were only 10 starts in 2024 that a team recorded at least six hits against Skubal and only six that he surrendered four runs; on five of those occasions, at least four were earned.

Only once last year did he record under five strikeouts as well.

Far from the kind of outing that Skubal has become accustomed to providing, but going up against the Dodgers is a tall task; they can make even the best pitchers look human on any given day.

Despite the underwhelming Opening Day outing, it doesn’t change his standing as the best starting pitcher in baseball, which MLB insiders voted him over at The Athletic (paid subscription required) in a piece put together by Andy McCullough, Will Sammon and Sahadev Sharm.

Skubal received the only perfect score of 100 to land as the sole player inside “The Inner Circle” tier of the article.

The evaluators and insiders were running out of superlatives to describe him with as everyone provided the Detroit ace with glowing reviews.

“An ace in any era,” an evaluator said.

“Best there is right now,” one scout said.

What separates Skubal is his ability to beat opponents in various ways. He isn’t overly reliant on one facet of his game to generate outs, which is what makes him so special.

The strike zone is peppered with regularity, but opponents can’t take advantage because he can miss bats with ease. Barrelling up an offering is not easy and he generates ground balls at an impressive rate to limit damage.

Possessing arguably the best changeup in baseball, he pairs it with a fastball he has no qualms about challenging hitters with.

“Skubal is, as another evaluator put it, “a monster not afraid to challenge you with a ‘f— you’ fastball,’” they added in the blurb.

That combination of stuff and command is what led to him winning the American League Cy Young Award in 2024, recording the pitching Triple Crown in the process.

Health was the only knock against him previously but if he can stay healthy, he is going to put together an incredible resume over the next few years stocked with accolades and awards.