Detroit Tigers: Top 5 moments from the 2022 season

4. Kerry Carpenter and Ryan Kreidler hitting back-to-back home runs to give the Tigers a win on Sept. 7

The second half of the season hasn’t featured much in terms of postive moments, but there was one on Sept. 7 against the Los Angeles Angels that gave Tigers fans some hope for the future.

Rookies Kerry Carpenter and Ryan Kreidler hit back-to-back solo homers in the top of the ninth inning to give the Tigers a come-from-behind win in LA. It gave the Tigers a potential glimpse into the future.

The Tigers were down 4-3 heading into the ninth inning and on the verge of being swept by the Halos. Carpenter stepped up and hit a fastball the opposite way and it just carried over the fence. Kreidler came and followed that up with a bomb to left-center.

Carpenter would go on to have a solid 100 or so ABs with the Tigers after blowing up in the minors this year. He had 30 homers between and Double-A and Triple-A before getting the call-up on Aug. 10. He went on the IL last week with a lower back strain, ending his season.

Kreidler got off to a solid start, but has struggled at the plate to the tune of a .493 OPS since being called up on Sept. 1. Defensively, however, he’s been great, showing off a lot of range and a solid arm.

Time will tell just how much Carpenter and Kreidler factor into the Detroit Tigers’ future, but this was definitley one of the better moments of the 2022 season.

3. Javier Baez’s walkoff hit on Opening Day

Do you remember when we had hope? Hope that the Detroit Tigers would actually be competitive? Those were the days, huh?

It was a disappoiting first year in a Tigers uniform for Javier Baez. There was simply too much bad Javy and not enough good Javy. But good Javy managed to show up on Opening Day.

The Tigers were down 4-3 heading into the bottom of the ninth against the Chicago White Sox. Their closer, Liam Hendriks, had just entered the game. Eric Haase came up to bat with one out, worked a 3-2 count, and crushed a 98 mph fastball coming in on his hands into the seats in left field to tie the game.

Later in the inning, with two outs, Austin Meadows tripled into the gap in right-center. Javy came up to the plate next, and on an 0-1 pitch, drove the ball to right field. In a strange turn of events, the ball bounced off the wall, into the glove of White Sox outfielder A.J. Pollock, out of his glove, then back into it once again for what was orginally ruled as the third out of the inning.

A.J. Hinch challenged the play, and replay showed that the ball did indeed hit the wall before landing in Pollock’s glove, giving the Tigers the 5-4 victory. This led to one of, if not the most memorable postgame interviews of the season.

Baez’s comments here obviously didn’t age well. It definitely wasn’t easy, but it wasn’t fun either…like at all. What was fun was this game, and that ending. Ah, good times…good times.

2. Riley Greene’s walkoff home run on July 2

Riley Greene missed the first two months of the season with a fractured foot. He finally made his big league debut on June 18 against the Texas Rangers, where he hit a bloop single in his first at-bat for his major league hit.

Then on July 2 against the Kansas City Royals, Greene stepped up to the plate in a tie game. Victor Reyes had just gone yard to tie the game at 3. Then on a 1-0 pitch, this happened.

Greene sent a fastball 420+ feet to dead center for a walkoff homer—the first long ball of his career. Everyone had been waiting for that first career homer—especially Greene himself—and he had finally done it.

Greene hasn’t shown a ton of power over the course of his rookie season, with just five home runs. But when he does run into one, he doesn’t get cheated. Take this 450-foot blast off Shohei Ohtanti to the deepest part of Comerica Park, for example. It hasn’t been a spectacular rookie campaign for Greene, but he’s still got a bright future ahead of him.

1. Miguel Cabrera’s 3,000th hit on April 23

I mean, come on. What else would it have been? Miggy reached a career milestone, cementing his place in Cooperstown, in front of a sellout crowd at Comerica Park in a game in which the Tigers won via blowout. Truly, a moment doesn’t much better than that. Watch for yourself.

My favorite part about this is that the first player to congratulate him wasn’t even one of his teammates. In fact, it was one of his former teammates, Jose Iglesias, now with the Rockies. He played for the Tigers from late 2013-2018, where he played alongside Miggy for over five seasons.

Another great part about this was that shortly after the celebration subsided, Spencer Torkelson sent a three-run shot over the wall in right field in what seemed like a passing-of-the-baton moment at the time. Obviously there’s still work to be done there, but it was a cool thing to see nonetheless.

This was easily the best moment of the 2022 season. It’s a shame things went so far downhill from here. Here’s to hoping that 2023 brings more good moments than bad ones.