Besides Tarik Skubal’s incredible season culminating in his first AL Cy Young award, no Detroit Tigers storyline received more coverage than “pitching chaos”. Despite losing Reese Olson and Casey Mize to injuries, and Jack Flaherty to the Dodgers at the trade deadline, Tigers’ pitching overwhelmed opponents during their march to the playoffs.
Much of that credit is due to the bullpen, almost all of which will be returning for 2025. A combination of pitching to contact in an age dominated by pitcher K’s, versatile arms mixing between short and long relief, and absolute trust in AJ Hinch to mix and match for success, led to the unit’s production being far greater than the sum of their parts.