The Detroit Tigers have a chance to be respectable

This past homestand for the Detroit Tigers was encouraging

For the first time all season, the Detroit Tigers have a winning stretch of baseball. The team has won seven of their last nine games, just completed a homestand where they went 6-2, and took four out of five from the first place Minnesota Twins, making up three games in the American League Central Standings in the process.

Expectations from the fanbase may have been a bit too high before the season, but this season has still been a disappointment so far. The expectation is that with the additions made in the offseason, the Tigers would take another step forward and build off a promising 2021 season.

But the Detroit Tigers got off to another miserable start in 2022—9-23 to be exact, almost identical to last year’s start. But much like last season, they have started playing better baseball as of late.

The Tigers are 12-7 in their last 19 games, playing better defense and getting more timely hits, headlined by Daz Cameron’s two-run homer in the eighth inning of yesterday’s game to put the Tigers ahead, and ultimately win them the game. The offense still lacks consistency, but the clutch hits are still a welcome sight.

So is this the start of a turnaround? Or just a little hot streak that will die out soon, possibly this weekend against a top team in the league in the Yankees?

Well, they will start to get healthy soon, especially offensively. Austin Meadows is currently on a rehab assignment and will be back in short order, and Riley Greene is not far behind him. Those will be two huge additions to the lineup.

Reinforcements are coming to the pitching staff as well. Tyler Alexander will return to the bullpen soon, and it sounds like Eduardo Rodriguez could be back sooner rather than later.

Following this weekend’s series against the Bronx Bombers, their schedule starts to lighten up a little. They have a two-gamer in Pittsburgh, with two much-needed off days in between. Then they open up a 10-game homestand against the Blue Jays, the struggling White Sox, and the Texas Rangers. Toronto and possibly Chicago will still be tough, but none of these matchups are an impossible task for this team.

The team hits the road for the rest of the month, going to Fenway to take on another disappointing team in the Red Sox before heading out west for some interleague play against the Diamondbacks and Giants. It’s easy to see the Tigers struggling at the end of the month simply because the west coast has never been kind to them, but you never know.

The starting pitching has still been holding up their end of the bargain despite an ungodly amount of injuries, and the bullpen is still a top unit in the league. The Tigers could have a solid month of June. But there is still work to be done.

The offense needs to be more consistent. While the timely hits are definitely encouraging, they still need to get the bats going. The Castros can only take you so far. Jonathan Schoop has finally gotten going, now the likes of Jeimer Candelario and Javier Baez need to join him.

Fans should temper their expectations to avoid further disappointment. To expect a total turnaround is a bit much. But to expect them to be respectable? That’s not asking much at all.