The week after Christmas, leading up to New Year’s Day, is typically when people start crafting their resolutions on how to improve their lives in the coming year. It’s an honorable tradition, but can often lead to failed attempts and a year of disappointment before trying again the next year.

Coming off their second straight ALDS elimination, the Detroit Tigers have a few New Year’s Resolutions that they would benefit greatly from seeing through in 2026–if they want to achieve their ultimate goal of a World Series victory with Tarik Skubal.

Watching the 2025 Tigers team down the stretch and in the playoffs made one thing abundantly clear about the state of their offense—they swing and miss way too much. In fact, they had the fourth highest K% in baseball, trailing only behind the Angels, Rockies and Orioles—none of which were playoff teams.

Just a few days out from 2026, Detroit has not made any additions to their offense, at least not externally. The team has elevated players such as Hao-Yu Lee, Trei Cruz, Eduardo Valencia, and Thayron Liranzo to the 40-Man roster. It’s unlikely that Liranzo will debut in 2026, but the other three have a strong chance to see some time in major leagues this upcoming season.

• Hao-Yu Lee possessed a K rate of 20.9% and a whiff rate of 25.6% in 126 games in AAA in 2025.

• Eduardo Valencia had a K rate of just 19.2% but a whiff rate of 27.5% in 50 games in AAA in 2025.

• Trei Cruz had a 23% K rate and 27.4% whiff rate in 58 games in AAA in 2025.

It’s reasonable to assume that each of these three players will see a bump in these numbers once reaching the major leagues. The pitchers have better stuff, they have better control, and they sequence better. It’s unlikely Detroit is going to find its strikeout improvement through them.

The improvements are going to have to be made through adjustments by the existing roster. Riley Greene saw a 4% increase in his K rate from 2024 to 2025. If he can manage to get back to his 2024 levels, that would be a significant improvement.

The inclusion of Kevin McGonigle at some point in the season should not be discounted as well. Whether or not he is on the team for Opening Day or appears later in the season, he will likely be an immediate improvement in many regards—but especially in his ability to limit strikeouts.

His Fangraphs projections for 2026 are estimating a 15% K rate across 55 games, which would be a significant increase in his minor league K rates so far. Despite that, it would still be the lowest on the team. The lowest strikeout percentage among qualified hitters on the Tigers in 2025 was Gleyber Torres at 16.1%, which was in the top 20% of the league. McGonigle is expected to best that as a rookie. Tigers fans should be excited for his arrival.

As much as Detroit could benefit from limiting strikeouts offensively in 2026, they could benefit just as much from adding strikeouts in their bullpen.

In terms of starting pitching, the Tigers actually finished with the 3rd highest K% in all of baseball, behind just the Dodgers and Phillies. Tarik Skubal deserves a lot of credit here, but Jack Flaherty was no slouch in that department either. With both of them seemingly returning for 2026, they should be looking okay again there.

The concern is the lack of strikeouts in the bullpen. They were second to last—trailing only Colorado—in K% among the bullpen. That’s not an ideal place to be, as you’d typically hope for your bullpen to be missing bats as much as possible. In fact, no other team in the bottom 10—actually bottom 11–even made the playoffs in 2025.

In bringing back Kyle Finnegan, this is a start in trying to improve this issue. His K rate jumped from just 19.6% in 39 innings with the Nationals prior to the deadline to a whopping 34.8% with the Tigers in 18 innings after being traded.

It seems counterintuitive for the Tigers to bring in Kenley Jansen, who is coming off the lowest K% of his career in 2025 at just 24.4%. However the Tigers have proven themselves capable of making the right tweaks to pitch mix and mechanics to get the most out of their pitchers. For this reason, it’s not impossible Jansen could see an increase in strikeouts in 2026.

The addition of Drew Anderson could prove fruitful as well. His K% as a starter in the KBO in 2025 was 35.3%. That isn’t going to translate to the MLB at nearly that level, however it inspires hope that he could hover in the high 20’s in his strikeouts percentage. The Tigers brought him in as a starter, but he will likely see some genuine time as a reliever as well and can hopefully bring some much needed swing and miss.

Any improvements in this regard should help the Tigers win more games in 2026.

The injury bug riddled Detroit in 2025. Reese Olson, Jackson Jobe, Ty Madden, Matt Vierling and Parker Meadows—as well as a host of minor league pitchers—all dealt with injuries plaguing or ending their seasons.

Injuries are an unfortunately natural part of the game. They can’t be stopped altogether. But hopefully they can be limited. If the Tigers can manage to keep the majority of the team in good health in 2026, they will be in good shape to win their first division title since 2014.