Tigers getting swept by White Sox exposes greatest trade deadline mistake (and it's not losing starters)

The Tigers' decision to trade Tarik Skubal and Casey Mize is going to continue to be debated no matter the outcome of their 2026 season. If they miss the postseason, writers are going to wonder if things would've been different with Skubal and Mize. If they make the postseason but lose in early rounds, it'll be more of the same.

Tigers fans are mostly on the same page about trading them being the right thing to do (whether or not the return for Skubal was adequate remains to be seen, of course). The resurgence in grumbling about it after the Tigers suffered a sweep to the White Sox this weekend ignores the fact that Detroit was 6-3 without two of their best starters coming into that series.

If we want to be angry at Scott Harris and the Tigers' front office for the way the deadline played out, we have far more reason to be upset about what he didn't do.

The Tigers were said to be interested in a late-inning reliever a few days out from the deadline, but Harris decided to put his team firmly on the side of selling.

Detroit's pitching staff just surrendered three leads in the three straight games, bringing their blown leads total to 34 on the season. The Tigers failed to take the AL Central from Chicago, and fell 5.5 games back of the lead.

White Sox statement sweep can't deter Tigers ahead of must-win road trip

Harris' unwillingness to give up prospects has, in a lot of cases, worked out very well for the Tigers. He kept Troy Melton and Josue Briceño despite interest in them at last year's deadline. No doubt other teams have come calling about any number of Detroit's other top prospects, past and present, but Harris has kept them all.

But his unwillingness also fueled one of the most misguided trade deadlines in recent memory in 2025, and it might've kept him from finding that late-inning arm this season.

The Tigers will put that series against the White Sox in the rearview mirror with a six-game road trip against the Pirates, who have an identical record, and the .408 Royals, before coming back home to face the AL-best Rays and the slumping but never to be underestimated Dodgers.

They still haven't managed to crawl back up to .500, but odds are that they aren't going to do it against the Rays and Dodgers. If they have any hope of regaining the spark this sweep just dimmed, they need to find it in these next six games.

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