The biggest questions the Tigers must answer in 2025

Opening Day is here, and the Tigers will immediately be presented with an uphill battle. On Thursday night, they'll take on the reigning World Champion Dodgers in LA, before heading up the coast to face the Mariners and finally returning home to Detroit.

The baseball season is notoriously long and there are way too many variables to count, but the Tigers have an opportunity to come in hot after their improbable postseason run in 2024 and challenge the Guardians, Twins, and Royals to sit atop the division for the first time since 2014.

However, the Tigers are far from a finished product and must convince their fans (and the rest of MLB) that they are for real.

The biggest questions the Tigers must answer in 2025

Will Spencer Torkelson and Casey Mize survive beyond 2025?

Mize and Torkelson, both first overall picks in 2018 and 2020, were supposed to be the future of the Tigers organization but are now fighting for their future on the roster. After an outstanding spring training, Mize broke the rotation along with Jackson Jobe as Kenta Maeda went to the bullpen and Keider Montero to Triple-A, but this year feels like his last chance. If he doesn't live up to expectations, the Tigers finally need to give him the boot.

Torkelson hasn't been around quite as long as Mize, but it also feels like the organization's patience with him is wearing thin. He's projected to start the season on the bench after Colt Keith took his spot at first with Gleyber Torres at second, but the Tigers have also tried him in the outfield in their scramble to cover for multiple outfield injuries. Torkelson's also had a very nice spring training, but he's on his last legs, too.

Will the Tigers try to swing big on another third baseman or will Jace Jung step up?

Losing Alex Bregman to the Red Sox was a huge blow to the Tigers' offseason pursuits, and it left room to wonder if it would scare an already traumatized front office when it came to free agent spending. However, the Tigers' third base situation is becoming a perennial issue, exacerbated this year by Jace Jung's demotion and Matt Vierling's injury, which will keep him sidelined for Opening Day.

Jung could improve in the minors and Vierling will come off of the IL eventually, but neither are the dependable, everyday solution that the Tigers need and could've gotten in Bregman. There's always the trade deadline and the next offseason, but if the front office is too scarred by the Bregman situation to try again with another big free agent, then it'll be imperative that Jung steps up to take that spot.

Will the young core be able to live up to expectations?

This is the biggest question of the season. The Tigers exceeded all expectations at the end of last year, but as good as Tarik Skubal was alongside the pitching chaos, the Tigers also just got really lucky, and there are no promises that luck is going to repeat itself. Riley Greene and Colt Keith, staples of the lineup, are going to need to come through in big ways; Parker Meadows will have to come off the IL firing on all cylinders in May; and the rookies are going to have to be at least halfway decent.

The Tigers were performing a high-wire act last season, and it feels likely that they'll do the same again this year unless some things manage to click for them especially. Luck and flashes of good timely hitting won't be enough and aren't sustainable through 162 games, so the lineup is going to need to dig deep to find some consistency if the team is really going to make a run at the AL Central.