MINNEAPOLIS - Thankfully. Finally. Riley Greeneis back.
Greene is expected to return to the Detroit Tigers lineup against the Minnesota Twins on Tuesday, Sept.1.
Just your average, ordinary, three-time All Star being activated with the expanded rosters.
“I'll stop short of calling Riley Greene a September call up, but I will to him,” Tigers manager A.J. Hinch joked on Monday.
Greene injured his hamstring on Aug.11, a game the Tigers won. At that time, the Tigers were 59-60 and everything was still within reach. They had all kinds of momentum, the offense was clicking and they were making a serious run at the final wild card spot.
Heck, winning the American League Central
didn’t seem farfetched.
Since then, the season has looked like a bad action-adventure movie. The kind where the train is screaming down the mountain and it hits a nasty curve – oh no, the tracks are broken! Then, the entire train flies off the rails, heading for a frozen valley down below.
And if you thought that was bad for the Tigers, well, it kept getting worse than that.
Since Greene went down, the Tigers have won just four games and lost 14, which has completely changed the outlook of this season. Winning the AL Central is nothing but a pipe dream. The Tigers (63-74) entered Tuesday nine games back in the AL Central behind the Chicago White Sox (72-65).
And the wild card? That will take some serious luck and a significant winning streak considering the Tigers are six games behind Cleveland (69-68) for the final spot.
Mathematically, the Tigers are still in it, considering they have 25 games left and 12 are against the AL Central.
But realistically, that would take a magical run that just doesn’t seem possible after the last two weeks.
Can all of that futility be traced back to losing Greene?
No.
Some of it is circumstance and timing. The Tigers have faced some seriously strong pitchers in the last few weeks. See the series against the Los Angeles Dodgers, just for starters.
Then again, the slumping Tigers have made some ordinary pitchers look like future Hall of Famers.
At the same time, several players have been stuck in slumps.
All-Star catcher Dillon Dingler has struggled through a miserable .109 stretch with Greene not in the lineup. To be clear, Dingler’s slump actually started before Greene left. And Dingler has now gone 80 at-bats stretching over 21 games without a homer.
All-star rookie Kevin McGonigle has gone into a funk, as well. Since Greene was injured, McGonigle is hitting .186 with a .580 OPS.
Again, is it all because of Greene?
No. But you can’t discount Greene’s absence. It is far easier for opposing teams to target McGonigle with Greene not in the lineup.
So what does it mean having Greene back for this stretch run?
“It's a big boost to the lineup and his presence, even just him in the clubhouse, it's been good for us,” Hinch said.
Trying to change the funk
But now, Greene is rejoining a team that has a different vibe.
Let’s start with the losing.
It killed Greene to be out with an injury as he watched his team collapse, mostly from afar.
“I mean, it sucked,” he said. “I want to be with the team every single day, every single game. I want to go through the ups. I want to go through the downs. That's I want to be here every single game. Not being able to be there was tough.”
So, he went through rehab at the Tigers facility in Lakeland, Florida, and then did a short rehab stint with Triple-A Toledo.
“It takes a toll on your mind, and the days go by slower,” Greene said. “You're wanting something and you're not getting it.”
Wait, is Greene now an old guy?
There is something else that is different about this team. Something significant.
Now, there are rookies everywhere you turn in the clubhouse, and the Tigers have entered a pure youth movement.
On Monday night, John Peck became the eighth position player to debut for the Tigers in 2026, the most in a single-season for Detroit since 2010 (also eight).
But Hinch refuses to let that be an excuse.
“Some of our best performances the last few weeks have been young guys,” Hinch said Monday. “Young doesn't mean not equipped or not good. … We are where we are, and we know we have to be really, really good to make this a memorable September.”
So, Peck was expected to start at shortstop on Tuesday in his first full game. That means that McGonigle will play more third. And that will force Hao-Yu Lee to play more second. Look around, and it’s conceivable that Gleyber Torres and Javier Báez will see reduced playing time.
“When I look out there and I see Kevin out there and I see Max [Clark] out there, it's not a tryout,” Hinch said. “These guys are here to help us win this series against the Twins.”
And now, here comes Greene.
The old guy is coming back to a team of youngsters. I mean, if you count Greene, who will turn 26 later this month, as an old guy. But he sure feels like it right now.
Listen, I know Greene has his detractors. But all the things he brings to this team cannot be overstated. It's been obvious for a couple weeks now.
Now, consider one last thing. Read what he said about the youngsters.
“They're here for a reason because they're really good baseball players,” Greene said on Monday. “They're going to help us win baseball games. They know the position we're in, and they know that we're a playoff team. That's our goal, and our goal is to win a World Series, but we have to make the playoffs. They're all well aware of that, and they're going to play their butts off.”
You listen to Greene and it’s still sounds possible. A tremendous long shot, sure. But still possible. He will believe until the very end. He has an unwavering belief.
And maybe, that’s what they have missed most of all.
Contact Jeff Seidel: jseidel@freepress.com. Follow him on X @seideljeff
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Better late than never, Riley Greene joins Tigers' youth movement
