Detroit Tigers: Top 5 moments from the 2022 season

The Detroit Tigers had some positive moments this year

We won’t sugarcoat it. This is a lost season for the Detroit Tigers, and has been for a while now. But believe it or not, it hasn’t been all doom and gloom for the 2022 Detroit Tigers.

Yes, that’s right. In a season where the team will lose just shy of 100 games, there were some moments worth remembering.

I know this season has been largely negative and forgettable, but let’s just focus on some of the positives for a change. Here are the top five moments from the Detroit Tigers 2022 season.

5. Miguel Cabrera’s 600th career double on May 7

The last calendar year has been one filled with milestones for Miguel Cabrera. From hitting his 500th home run in August of last year, picking up his 3,000th hit in April of this year, and this, his 600th career double on May 7 against the Houston Astros.

It was a two-run double off Astros’ lefty Framber Valdez. With it, he became just the third player in MLB history with 500 career homers, 3,000 career hits, and 600 career doubles.

Miggy would go on to have a solid first half, followed by a rough and injury-riddled second half of the season, but this was a really nice moment nonetheless. With the news that he’s for sure returning for the 2023 season, there could be even more historic achievements for the future hall-of-famer.

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.