Two years ago, the Detroit Tigers were a hot mess. Organizational infrastructure was barely out of the 1970s and the team seemed more the demure Daniel Tiger than the sinister Shere Khan.
Enter new team president Scott Harris in 2023, and the Tigers proved a very pleasant surprise despite the weak AL Central. Detroit finished 78-84, good enough to place second behind the Minnesota Twins and earn manager A.J. Hinch a contract extension.
What’s interesting is that the Tigers did this with one of the worst offenses in baseball and only a middling pitching staff.