AJ Hinch isn't taking the Tigers early struggles seriously enough

The Detroit Tigers are 4-8, good for last place in the AL Central. This is the same team that blew a 15-game division lead at the end of last season, which included a dreadful month of September. Much of that was forgiven when the Tigers defeated Cleveland in the Wild Card series, and came within a game of reaching the ALCS before falling in Seattle. But Tigers fans remember.

The product Tigers fans have been forced to watch through 12 games of the 2026 season looks much like that at the end of 2025. They fall behind early and don't have the bats to make up the distance. Manager AJ Hinch knows this, but also preaches patience. That's the wrong message for a team that now has a large enough sample size of underachieving, even if some of the faces in the clubhouse have changed.

Tigers manager AJ Hinch isn't taking their poor start seriously

After losing to the Twins much as they have all season — falling behind early and a late rally that comes up just short — Hinch admitted that he understands fans' frustration. He also refuses to overreact to a 12-game sample size.

“I think team-wise, you're always pushing to play winning baseball,” Hinch said. "And right now we haven't done that. And we're trying to find ways to get back to our brand of baseball that produces those wins without overreacting."

You see, what Hinch fails to realize is that this isn't a small sample size. The Tigers have been this bad since last July. On July 8, 2025, Detroit led the AL Central by 14 games and the Cleveland Guardians by 15.5 games. They finally fell out of first place in the Central on Oct. 11, thanks in large part to a 26-39 stretch, which included losing 20 out of 27 games and 11 of 12 before finally relinquishing control.

So, you'll forgive me for assuming the Tigers losing ways are a theme, rather than a new problem after a long winter.

Did the Tigers do enough this offseason?

The Tigers biggest offseason signing was Framber Valdez, who lost in Minnesota on Wednesday night. Valdez pitches to contact, and the Twins used that strategy to their advantage. Valdez gave up eight earned runs and struck out only two hitters. He also walked two, and the Tigers had some unlucky plays in the field like Josh Bell's bloop single, a hit-by-pitch to Austin Martin and Javier Baez's ensuing off-balance throw to second base which didn't go according to plan.

But beyond Valdez, the Tigers didn't add all that much. They improved their bullpen, signing closer Kenley Jansen. The lineup remains mostly the same, minus the emergence of top prospect Kevin McGonigle. This is the same team that ranked 19th in OPS last September amid their late-season collapse. Scott Harris saw that product and though he should run it back.

“I think in April you can certainly overreact to a lot of things as the competition gets stronger. You can also underreact if you just chalk it up to just April. So I think it's a fine line in coaching to address the things that create success and create wins," Hinch continued.

None of this sounds like a manager — or a team for that matter — taking a poor start seriously. Were Detroit built like the Dodgers or Yankees, perhaps that'd be acceptable. But this group, by and large, is the same team that blew a 15-game lead to the Guardians last September, and failed Tarik Skubal when it mattered most in the postseason.

Nothing has changed. That's the problem.

More MLB news and analysis: