Detroit boasts the best record in the American League despite having the 18th-highest payroll in MLB. Here’s how the Tigers are doing it.
It’s hard to win in Major League Baseball if you don’t spend money. Following Monday’s games, only five of the 15 teams in the bottom half of the sport’s payroll rankings have winning records.
One of those teams, the Detroit Tigers, has the best mark in the American League at 22-13 despite having the 18th-largest payroll, spending even less than the regularly thrifty division rival Minnesota Twins. After making the Division Series last year behind a Cy Young Award-winning season from ace Tarik Skubal and a stellar bullpen, their offense has now matched the pitching staff’s energy and production nearly six weeks into 2025.
Detroit leads the AL in both runs scored and ERA, off to a roaring start, led by players most baseball fans have never heard of. In 2024, the league average OPS was .711, and the Tigers struggled to get that type of consistent production from enough hitters in their lineup. Only two players who appeared in at least 100 games last season, DH Kerry Carpenter and utility man Matt Vierling, had an OPS better than league average.
Subscribe for the biggest stories in the business of sports and entertainment, daily.
This year, eight Tigers who have played at least 20 games have cleared that mark, and only two make more than $2 million this season. Those players, veteran infielders Javier Báez and Gleyber Torres, are having bounce-back seasons in massive wins for a front office staff led by Scott Harris.
Baez has been largely disappointing throughout his six-year, $140 million contract with Detroit after the 2021 season. His WAR, per Baseball-Reference, was -1.1 in 2024, making him worse than a random replacement big leaguer while making $25 million, or more than a quarter of the team’s adjusted payroll. This year, he’s batting .309 with an .829 OPA while playing shortstop, third base, and a surprisingly good center field.
After a year of average offensive production, the New York Yankees discarded Torres and reportedly didn’t even offer him a contract in free agency following a seven-year run in the Bronx. The 28-year-old Venezuelan signed a one-year, $15 million prove-it type deal with Detroit and has responded with a .291 average and an .826 OPS to date, production that New York currently lacks at second base.
First baseman Spencer Torkelson, the top overall pick of the 2020 draft, is third in the AL in home runs and is fourth in RBIs to go with a team-leading .889 OPS. The 25-year-old is making under $800,000 in his final season before arbitration. Riley Greene, the fifth overall pick in 2019, has an .808 OPS at 24 years old and won’t hit arbitration until next year. Starting catcher Dillon Dingler, their second-rounder in 2020, is further proof that the team’s draft and development strategy has been a success on offense. But they’re also getting good production from Carpenter, a 19th-round draft pick, and Zach McKinstry, dumped by the Dodgers for an unknown minor leaguer before the 2023 season.
In addition to Skubal, who’s making a little over $10 million in arbitration and hits free agency in 2027, the Tigers’ rotation is populated mainly by young, cheap homegrown talent. Casey Mize was the top overall pick in the 2018 draft and is 5-1 with a 2.70 ERA after missing all of 2023 following Tommy John surgery. Reese Olson, acquired from Milwaukee at the 2021 deadline, has become a rotation mainstay at 25 and won’t hit free agency for five years. Jackson Jobe, the fifth overall pick in 2021, is off to a good start in his first big league season.
They’ll be joined in the rotation by a slew of veterans. Starter Jack Flaherty signed a one-year deal with Detroit before last season, was traded to the Dodgers in July, helped them win the World Series, and then returned to the Tigers on a two-year, $35 million contract for 2025. Another Yankees discard, reliever Tommy Kahnle, was signed to a one-year, $7.75 million deal to be the team’s closer and boasts an ERA under 1.00 in 12 games pitched. And the team still has yet to add 37-year-old innings-eater Alex Cobb, who is working through a hip injury after signing a one-year, $15 million contract.
Detroit’s mix of drafting and developing difference makers both on the mound and behind the plate, while getting strong production from discarded veterans on relatively affordable short-term deals, has proven to be a successful recipe for a team looking to build a sustained winner without breaking the bank.
While they may lack the household names that teams like the Los Angeles Dodgers or New York teams boast, the Detroit Tigers are outscoring and outpitching your favorite ballclub at a fraction of the cost.
Read More:
Simone Manuel’s Mission: A Future Where Everyone Can Swim Safely
Warner Bros. Discovery is Still All About Sports in Post-NBA Future
How a Hated CBA Rule Fixed the NBA Playoffs
From Culture to Cleats: Adidas, Sekou Thornell Spotlight Black Excellence
Why NBCUniversal, Amazon are Doubling Down on Live Sports, Original ContentÂ
