The Tigers keep finding new ways to turn comfortable leads into messes, and the bullpen has become the clearest reason why. Detroit’s 26 blown leads are the most in Major League Baseball, more than the Angels and more than the Rockies, a brutal mark for a team that was expected to run away with the AL Central.
Sunday offered another example. The Tigers and Astros were tied 3-3 heading into the 10th, and Kenley Jansen, who had worked a scoreless ninth, got tagged for four runs. Detroit could only answer with two in the bottom of the inning, and Jansen took the loss.
That outing pushed Jansen to a 5.31 ERA in 20 1/3 innings this season, and it’s hard to argue he belongs anywhere near the top of the bullpen hierarchy right now. He’s blown four save chances and has been charged with four losses.
The disappointment stings more because Jansen arrived with real credibility. Fans embraced the move, even if he wasn’t quite the same closer he had been in his best Dodgers years. His 2.57 career ERA carried plenty of weight, and with Hall of Fame talk attached to his name, the hope was that Detroit might get one more productive chapter out of a decorated career.
Instead, the Tigers have gotten instability. Jansen’s name may be remembered this season for passing Lee Smith for third on MLB’s all-time saves list on April 14, but that milestone doesn’t erase the damage he’s done on the mound. He now sits at 485 career saves, and there was plenty of hope he could chase 500 in a Tigers uniform.
That hasn’t been the story. Jansen has not only struggled, he’s also dealt with injury. And the ripple effects have hit Detroit’s bullpen structure too, with the signing of Jansen and the re-signing of Kyle Finnegan pushing Will Vest out of the closer role he had earned and, as the source put it, arguably breaking him beyond repair.
Still, this isn’t a move that can be pinned on Scott Harris with hindsight alone. The logic behind signing Jansen made sense at the time, because everything pointed to him still having useful work left in him. But the result has been another painful twist in a season already defined by blown chances.
In Other News...
Tigers Fans Wont Like The Latest Trade Rumor Around Their Ace
Tarik Skubals return to the mound has been one of the bright spots of the Tigers season, especially after he came back from elbow surgery and quickly looked like himself again. In 11 starts, the two-time American League Cy Young winner has posted a 3.15 ERA, a reminder of why Detroit has leaned so heavily on him as the anchor of its rotation.
Now, though, the conversation around Skubal is drifting far beyond his next outing. With the 2026 trade deadline still ahead, his name has surfaced in chatter among multiple clubs, a familiar kind of noise for an ace of his stature but one Tigers fans would rather not hear attached to a pitcher who has already proved how valuable he can be. [Read more 🡒]
Tigers Season Somehow Has One Split That Makes No Sense
For a club that has spent much of the summer looking up in the standings, the Tigers have collected a few odd side stories along the way. Detroit sits 37-49 and 12th in the American League, still six games back of the final Wild Card spot, but the shape of its season has been anything but routine. The Tigers have been sturdier in day games, have held their own more often at Comerica Park than on the road, and have had a strangely sharp contrast against starting-pitcher handedness.
The bigger head-scratcher is how uneven Detroit has been inside the AL Central, where the losses have piled up and kept the club from gaining any traction in the division race. Even as the Tigers have found ways to compete in some spots, the profile keeps pointing to a team that is more comfortable in certain settings than others, and the split against left-handed starters only adds another layer to the puzzle. For a roster trying to stay in the hunt, the next challenge is figuring out which version of the Tigers is the real one. [Read more 🡒]
Jackson Jobe Just Gave Tigers Fans A Reason To Dream Again
Jackson Jobes rehab has moved from a long-term hope to something a lot more tangible for Tigers fans. After Tommy John surgery in June 2025, the right-hander has kept stacking milestones, from offseason work in Texas to spring training time in Lakeland and bullpen sessions that showed he was trending in the right direction. The progress has been steady enough that team sources and MLB.com have both confirmed his velocity is back in a big way as he works his way through the next phase.
What makes the buildup matter is not just the radar-gun reading, but what it says about the shape of Jobes recovery. He has already cleared bullpen work, and if the rest of the rehab keeps moving cleanly, Detroit can start imagining him as part of the 2026 rotation picture. For a club that has been waiting to see whether one of its top arms could come back on schedule, that kind of progress is enough to keep the conversation alive all summer. [Read more 🡒]