I don’t know if it’s because I’ve been too busy, caught up in the throes of March madness, or if the Michigan weather has my brain all out of sorts, but I swear this opening day feels like it’s really sneaking up on me. I also think that is a result of expectations. During the heart of the Detroit Tigers' rebuild, some of the most exciting moments we had were watching the young players in spring training. Some of whom we knew had a shot of making the team, and some didn’t. But it’s a pretty sad state of things when spring training is some of the most fun you’re going to have during a baseball season. The tigers have their goals in front of them. There’s a lot to look forward to in 2026, but some questions still need to be answered. AJ Hinch is going to have some decisions to make.
One thing I didn’t mention in the video is that we tend to overinflate the value of making the opening-day roster. Making any major league baseball team on opening day is a legit accomplishment, and it’s worth acknowledging, but rosters change very quickly. Managers do use spring training as an assessment for certain players, but sometimes spring training lies. You can only go off the data you’ve been given, but certain metrics are not quantifiable. The lights get a lot brighter by the time you start hitting at a major league park. Often, the weather is a lot cooler to begin the season, and some guys don’t perform. I’ve been open about the fact that I think some of Casey Mize’s issues in spring training are legitimately concerning, but this is a guy who won 14 games a year ago. He’s a veteran at this point; it wouldn’t shock me if he stepped up and started pitching some good baseball right out of the gate this year, much as he did in 2025.
The older you get, the more you realize no one truly knows anything in this game. The best organizations are the ones that guess better than everybody else. And that’s what AJ Hinch has to do coming into this season. Thankfully, we can stop guessing pretty soon. The beautiful thing about this game is that questions get answered by how guys look on the field and in the regular season, and we’re just under a week away from first pitch.