Jahmai Jones resurgence, postseason with Red Sox is s double-edged sword for Tigers

Get traded away from the Tigers, put up career numbers. It’s a tale as old as time and it’s happening in real time throughout MLB as the playoffs begin.

There are several former Tigers whose new teams have made the playoffs but the headliners have to be Casey Mize and Tarik Skubal. Both joined teams destined for the playoffs at the trade deadline (though Mize was left off the Padres' Wild Card roster). Then there were guys like Jahmai Jones and Jake Rogers who joined hopeful playoff teams — and it ended up working out for them.

The biggest surprise of that group of four former Tigers is probably the fact that Jones has been raking with the Red Sox and may have had the best final two months of the season of the four.

Everyone knew Skubal would be just fine and after posting a 3.00 ERA in August with the Dodgers, he notched a 2.25 ERA in September. He may have gotten hit around a little more than he’s used to with his WHIP creeping over 1.00 with Los Angeles. He was still one of the best pitchers in baseball, but he struggled to adjust at times.

Mize, too struggled with the Padres, posting a 7.46 ERA and 1.68 WHIP after enjoying a 2.70 ERA with the Tigers through the first three months of the season. He also only had 25 strikeouts in 44 innings.

But Jones now looks like the steal of the year, and that's a double-edged sword for the Tigers. They absolutely needed to dump him after his horrendous start to the season, but now he’s hitting the cover off the ball like he did with Detroit in 2025.

Oh, and he’ll be fighting for a World Series berth.

It’s good to see the former Tiger play so well with the Red Sox after struggling through 57 appearances this season and needing a change of scenery. Funny how that always seems to work out, right?

Jahmai Jones has been a revelation with the Red Sox

The Red Sox were already likely to make the playoffs when they acquired Jones and they went 21-16 in games that he played. He was an overall plus player for Boston, posting a 0.8 WAR as well.

What really stands out is his .993 OPS. All he did when he got to Boston was get on base. His on-base percentage is .408 with the Red Sox and he also hit .308 (20-for-65). This is bittersweet to see because the Red Sox are experiencing the same Jones that Tigers fans fell in love with during the 2025 playoff run when he hit .287 with a .937 OPS over 72 games.

Plus, his start to the 2026 season was so bad, there’s no way that anyone in the Tigers’ front office saw him breaking out of a slump like he did with the Red Sox. He hit .137 and had a .440 OPS in 57 games with the Tigers — Detroit was 20-36 in games when he recorded an at-bat.

After getting picked up by the Red Sox in mid-July, Jones got red-hot. His OPS in July was 1.278 which is a video game number and then he doubled down in August with a 1.284 OPS and .474 average. He did come back down to earth in September with a .614 OPS and .182 average over 33 at-bats, but he heads to the postseason with a fresh start again. And we know how that works out for him.

It’s great to see the former Tiger having success with a change of scenery, but it had to come at the expense of a playoff berth for Detroit. The baseball gods have a twisted sense of humor.

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