Detroit Tigers at Cleveland Guardians: 3 things to watch out for

3. Can the Detroit Tigers get monkey off their backs against Cleveland?

We’ve already established how much the Tigers have struggled against the Guardians over the past six seasons. It’s never a good feeling when Tigers fans see them on the schedule.

Friday night seems like a good time to turn over a new leaf with budding ace Tarik Skubal on the hill. He gives the Tigers the best chance to win whenever he’s on the mound.

The team needs to hit, and they need to hit with RISP. We saw it against the Baltimore Orioles last weekend. We know they’re capable of competent hitting. Now we just need to see consistency.

They also need to just stay healthy. Even for as much pitching depth as the team has, they can’t afford anymore injuries, especially with Matt Manning suffering a small setback in yesterday’s rehab start.

Cleveland has owned Detroit in recent years. There’s no denying that. But it’s a new season. The Detroit Tigers have a chance to start anew and end Cleveland’s dominance over them. Like A.J. Hinch keeps saying, they just have to play better.