Tigers News: Playoff picture as Detroit surges, Futures Game switch, Kevin McGonigle history

The Tigers took their third straight series win on Wednesday, when they beat the Athletics 6-1. Entering play on Thursday, Detroit is 5-1 in July, 7-3 in their last 10, and their 20-12 record since June 1 is the best in the American League.

They're still fourth place in the AL Central, but with the White Sox and Guardians' losses the same night, the Tigers crept within 5.5 games of the division leader Sox and are only four games out of a Wild Card spot. Detroit's +20 run differential is one of just six positive run differentials in the AL and is the fourth-best behind the Yankees, Rays, and Mariners.

We might look back on this someday as the middle of the surge the Tigers desperately needed to avoid selling at the trade deadline, but it's hard to do anything but take things day by day when we're actually in it.

The AL remains wide open, and the Tigers are slowly but surely making up for the damage they brought unto themselves in May. It's hard to get too optimistic, but it's also hard to get too fatalistic. We just have to hope this lasts.

Max Anderson to replace Thayron Liranzo and represent Tigers in All-Star Futures Game

This week, the Tigers No. 5 prospect Thayron Liranzo was announced as Detroit's sole representative in the 2026 All-Star Futures Game. It's Liranzo's second time participating in the game but first as a Tiger; he appeared as a Dodger in 2024, just a few weeks before he was shipped to Detroit as part of the Jack Flaherty trade.

It was a nice win for Liranzo, who had a tough year at the plate in 2025 while he dealt with a personal tragedy and fell off of basically every top 100 prospects list. However, he's been on Double-A Erie's 7-day IL since July 3 with a index finger laceration and won't be able to participate in the Futures Game.

No. 4 prospect Max Anderson will take Liranzo's place. Anderson is hitting .307 with a .854 OPS in 52 games in Triple-A and has long been a standout in the Tigers organization.

Kevin McGonigle breaks an Aaron Judge record en route to Rookie of the Year honors

With his 2-for-4 day at the plate on Tuesday, during the Tigers' opener against the A's, Kevin McGonigle reached base multiple times in 53 games of his rookie season, the most by any rookie before the All-Star break since it was introduced in 1933. It broke Aaron Judge's 2017 record of 52 games.

At this point, there's no question that McGonigle will be the AL's Rookie of the Year. Munetaka Murakami was threatening for a while, but his long stint on the IL has hurt his chances significantly. Even if he'd stayed healthy and kept hitting home runs at a steady clip, Tigers fans would still be making McGonigle's case by screaming it from rooftops.

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