Detroit Tigers: 10 reasons to be excited for the season

Ron Gardenhire

Hired to replace Brad Ausmus, Gardenhire brings a winning track record with him to Detroit. Gardenhire had a winning record in eight of his first nine seasons with the Twins.

Despite always being near the bottom of the league in payroll, Gardenhire excelled at getting the most out of his players. His tenure in Minnesota netted the Twins six of the 11 playoff appearances in franchise history.

While Gardenhire isn’t expected to win right away, he is the kind of manager that should pair nicely with the youth movement in Detroit. Only time will tell if he’s the right man for the job and it will be fun to see how his reign starts.

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Hope springs eternal

Sure the Tigers aren’t expected to have a good 2018 season. Baseball is a weird game, though. On any given day, anybody can beat anybody. Last year’s team tied for the worst record in baseball and still won about 40% of their games. That doesn’t seem like a lot, but it is far from the disaster of 2003.

Could Miggy, V-Mart, and Nicholas Castellanos lead a much-improved offense to a few more wins? Absolutely. Could the rotation get a boost from those behind Fulmer to turn the staff around? Sure. Even modest gains, especially on the pitching side, could improve Detroit’s record by a lot in 2018.

I’m not predicting a playoff appearance or even a finish above fifth in the AL Central, but before the season starts anything is still possible.