This really shouldn’t be that surprising. The Tigers have one of the better core groups in baseball now, and while their rotation has question marks due to injury and inexperience, it’s certainly a pretty talented group with Framber Valdez as the veteran, and Jackson Jobe, Troy Melton, Keider Montero, River Ryan, and Reese Olson lined up behind the veteran lefty. Obviously they need to build a much better bullpen, but this shouldn’t really be that hard. We’ll see how hard the front office decides
to make it.
The Tigers were 14th in run scoring, and 11th in team wRC+ in 2026, despite getting gutted for a good six weeks by a huge wave of injuries from mid-April through May. Max Clark has only just arrived, while Hao-Yu Lee and Eduardo Valencia broke out with the bats in the second half. They still have plenty of young hitting talent coming behind them as well. They were also 6th best in team ERA and 10th best in team fielding independent pitching (FIP). The defense got better as Clark and other young outfielders were added to the mix. It would really help that cause if John Peck can insert himself into the mix next year.
The Brewers are number one on the power rankings, as you’d expect. The Dodgers and Yankees check in second and third. The Rays, Red Sox, and Braves round out the 4-6 slots, with the Tigers in seventh.
Here is ESPN’s argument for the Tigersin 2027.
1. Their plus-71 run differential was fourth in the AL, not that far behind the Rays (plus-86) or Red Sox (plus-78), and that’s a positive indicator for the following season.
2. They have key young players to build around in Kevin McGonigle (7.1 WAR as a rookie) and Max Clark (1.2 WAR in 51 games), plus several rookies ready to contribute in 2027, including Ryan, who came over in the Tarik Skubal trade.
3. Troy Melton (2.76 ERA in 20 starts), Jackson Jobe (3.91 ERA in nine starts) and Ryan are ready to fill the spots of Skubal and Casey Mize.
Yes, Detroit will need to address the bullpen, but this is still a deep roster that underperformed in 2026.
The Tigers have Max Anderson, Zyhir Hope, and Josue Briceño all close to pushing their way to the major leagues. The big question remains having enough pitching to be able to construct a better bullpen. We certainly wouldn’t hate the addition of a good all around position player into the mix, but that doesn’t seem very likely right now. Maybe the picture will look a little different once the CBA is complete.
Ask the Guardians how they feel about this and they’ll say it doesn’t matter. They’re right, but there is a good argument for the Tigers if they can clean up their weaknesses this offseason. How do you feel about the Tigers getting ranked seventh overall heading into the offseason after a very underachieving sort of season in 2026?
