Detroit Tigers: 4 overreactions to the opening series against the Rays

Some overreactions to the Detroit Tigers soul-crushing opening series

The Detroit Tigers were swept to begin the 2023 season by the Tampa Bay Rays. It was, quite frankly, a horrible showing. They were outscored 21-3 and didn't look much different than last year's team. But then again, it's just three games. There's 159 games remaining. It's a long season. They can't be this bad all season..right?

In this article, we're going to go over a handful of overreactions from the first three games of the season. There have been a ton of hot takes stemming from this first series. Let's dive into them.

Overreaction #1: The offense is still terrible

I'll be honest, this doesn't seem like much of an overreaction right now. This team scored three runs in three games and nearly got no-hit on Sunday. They had a total of two hits in that game and hit one home run in those three games. They were out-hit 27-14. They are dead last in MLB through the first three games in team wRC+ at 15. That is not a typo.

This team chose not to add any major league hitters through free agency after having one of the worst offenses in franchise history, and we're already seeing the results of that. With all that being said, let's see the other side of the argument.

It's just three games against one of the best pitching staffs in baseball. The Rays have a loaded rotation and bullpen, and it showed this weekend. Jeffrey Springs was filthy on Sunday, striking out 12 in six innings of work. Shane McClanahan pitched on Opening Day and looked like a Cy Young winner.

The Tigers won't play this team again until the first week of August. They won't face a pitching staff quite like this again.

They're also trying to get used to the new gameplan and approach that the new hitting coaches are trying to deploy. That will take some time.

I really can't blame fans for being frustrated with the offense (or lack thereof). It looks like nothing has changed. It's been seven years since this team has had a record over .500 and it looks like they're well on their way to yet another subpar season. But let's pump the brakes just a bit. I'm saying this for myself just as much as I'm saying this for the fans.

Mid-May. That's the deadline I'm setting for hitting the panic button. If they still look this brutal by then, then we all have the right to grab our pitchforks and protest outside Comerica Park. But for now, let's take it easy.

Overreaction #2: The bullpen looks far worse than last year

If there's anything to be worried about, this is it. The Tigers had the eighth best bullpen in baseball last year by ERA. But they lost four major contributors starting at the trade deadline last season. Scott Harris took a bunch of shots in the dark with guys like Trey Wingenter and Chasen Shreve in an effort to replace them. The results so far have not been great.

Shreve had a pretty good outing on Opening Day. He walked one and struck out two. But he had trouble executing his pitches on Sunday. In fact, most of the bullpen has had trouble executing pitches.

Wingenter struggled in relief on Saturday. He faced six batters and recorded just one out. His slider was nasty looking, but he couldn't get anyone to bite on it.

Jason Foley pitched in two similar situations this weekend. The Tigers needed a double play ball and he is the groundball specialist. For some reason, Tigers catchers kept having him throw sliders instead of his sinker, and he paid for it as a result. Eric Haase and Jake Rogers both had him throw sliders. It really doesn't make any sense.

Jose Cisnero walked a batter in his only appearance of the weekend. Rule 5 pick Mason Englert gave up a home run to Wander Franco in his MLB debut on Thursday in a "welcome to the big leagues" moment, but ended up retired the side in order after the fact. Garrett Hill walked two and gave up two runs in an inning of work. It wasn't a good weekend for the Tigers bullpen.

Relievers are highly volatile, so they could easily bounce back. But they could also keep being bad. Nobody could throw strikes this weekend. The Tigers really need to find some arms that can just pound the zone. They have a lot of options down in Toledo, and they'll likely cycle through them all this season. The bullpen is likely going to be wild ride in 2023.

Overreaction #3: Spencer Turnbull is cooked

I hyped up Spencer Turnbull all spring long just for him to lay an egg in his first start back from Tommy John surgery. From the get-go, he had no command. The velocity and stuff was there, but he couldn't hit his spots. We've seen this Spencer Turnbull before.

However, Turnbull has a tendency to get pretty amped up, and there's a good chance that's what happened on Saturday. It was his first start in almost two years. I'm sure emotions were running high for him.

This is the easiest overreaction to squash for me. I'm still pretty high on Turnbull this year. He just needs to settle down a bit and focus on throwing strikes.