3 overreactions to the Tigers opening series sweep of the White Sox

The offense is the same as last year

Yes, the Tigers scored seven of their 11 runs in this series in game two on Saturday. Yes, they only scored one run on Opening Day and three runs on Sunday. But they won both games, and there's reason to believe this offense won't be quite as bad as they've been in recent years.

For starters, they hit four home runs in this series. They were all solo shots, but they hit four balls over the fence nonetheless. Riley Greene, Mark Canha, Kerry Carpenter, and Jake Rogers all went deep for Detroit. Power has been an issue for this team, so that's a good sign early on in the season.

They were also better with runners in scoring position in this series. That was arguably their biggest issue offensively last season. They just could not get that big hit with runners on base. But they were 6-for-19 (.316) with RISP in this series, including 5-for-12 on Saturday. That's a massive improvement.

They were 0-for-3 on Thursday, and only 1-for-4 on Sunday, but Sunday's hit with RISP — a pinch-hit RBI single from Andy Ibanez — proved to be the difference in the game. I wouldn't expect them to even come close to hitting over .300 with RISP this season, but this series was an important step in becoming more clutch at the plate as a team.

Over the course of this season, especially as it gets warmer in the summer, I think this offense will start to become more consistent. I know that sounds strange coming from me, but there was a lot to like from the lineup this weekend. There were very few non-competitive at-bats. Mark Canha, acquired from the Brewers in a trade very early in the offseason, was crushing the ball all weekend. There's reason to believe the offense can at least be middle of the road. And with this pitching? That may be all it needs to be to reach the postseason.