The Detroit Tigers ended their 2026 season on Sunday with a 4-2 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates, and president of baseball operations Scott Harris spent Monday doing something far less fun than preparing for the postseason: owning up to where it went wrong.
After last October’s heartbreaking Game 5 loss to the Seattle Mariners in the American League Division Series, Detroit entered this year with real expectations. The season, though, turned fast. A brutal 6-22 month in May buried the Tigers in the American League Central, and that stretch ended up being the kind of crater a 162-game schedule rarely forgives.
Harris said the biggest issue was simple - the roster wasn’t deep enough to absorb the hits that came with a long season.
"I didn't build enough depth into this roster this year. Our vulnerabilities in this roster got exposed in May, and it cost us, and that's part of the reason why I have a huge pit in my stomach thinking about this season,'' said Harris, per Jason Beck of MLB.com.
That May slump stings even more when you look at how close Detroit still was to the postseason picture. A 14-14 month would have left the Tigers tied with the Chicago White Sox for the final AL wild-card spot. And even after that early collapse, the division never really disappeared from reach.
Nobody seized control until the summer, and the White Sox held the lead for a long stretch before the Cleveland Guardians finished strong for the second year in a row. Cleveland won the division with just 85 wins and earned a wild-card-round bye.
Instead of gearing up for October, the Tigers are facing a long offseason and a roster that could look very different when spring training rolls around. There are young players in the organization to feel good about, but Harris also has major work ahead, especially with Tarik Skubal traded and unlikely to re-sign in free agency. Rebuilding the pitching staff around Framber Valdez figures to be the top priority as Detroit tries to get back to the postseason in 2027.
In Other News...
Tigers Face Troubling Comerica Park Allegation After Opponent Injury
A summer game at Comerica Park has now turned into a legal dispute for the Tigers and the stadiums operators after Athletics infielder-outfielder Zack Gelof said he was hurt while chasing a foul ball on July 9, 2026. Gelofs lawsuit names the Tigers, Ilitch Holdings, Inc. and the Detroit-Wayne County Stadium Authority, tying his injury to a collision with an exposed metal fence along the field.
Gelof said the slide left him with a deep laceration and kept him out for about a month, and the filing argues the problem was a dangerous condition that could have been avoided with proper padding. For the Tigers, the case adds an uncomfortable off-field storyline around one of baseballs more familiar venues, with the central question now shifting from the injury itself to how the ballpark was maintained. [Read more 🡒]
Tigers Offseason Shakeup May Be Just Getting Started
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Nieves had been in the organization since 2018 and moved up to the major league staff in 2021, so his departure stands out as one of the more significant staff decisions to date. Other familiar faces, including George Lombard, Chris Fetter and Billy Boyer, are expected to stay in place, but the early moves suggest the Tigers may not be done reshaping things around the edges. [Read more 🡒]
Tigers Still Face One Big Pitching Question This Offseason
After a season that saw Detroit trade away Tarik Skubal and Casey Mize for future prospects, the Tigers head into the offseason with a familiar kind of uncertainty on the mound. Six players are set to hit unrestricted free agency, and the list includes a few names that matter to the rotation picture and the late innings, with Jack Flaherty, Drew Anderson and closer Kenley Jansen holding club options that will shape how much work the front office still has to do.
Anderson and Jansen look like the likeliest candidates to stay in place, which would give Detroit some continuity in a bullpen that still needs sorting out. Even so, Tyler Kinley and Burch Smith are not expected to be kept, leaving the Tigers with more reliever turnover to manage and one central question hanging over the winter: how much of this staff can be carried forward, and how much needs to be rebuilt again? [Read more 🡒]