The Detroit Tigers have a lot of potential this postseason. They reached the American League Division Series, and came up short to the Cleveland Guardians. This year, they’ve pretty much been atop the AL all season and are the favorites for a deep playoff run. But there’s one thing that could derail their postseason before it even gets started. The fact that their faith is in two former New York Yankees players could be what holds them back in October.
The bullpen is in shambles and Tommy Kahnle is the bright spot so far, which isn’t really saying much. And then there’s Gleyber Torres. As good as he’s been for the Tigers, he could just as easily be a liability for the Tigers in the postseason. The Yankees let them go for a reason and the Tigers are about to quickly find out what that reason is.
It doesn’t help that a team like the Boston Red Sox have seemingly played their way into the playoffs at this point either. If there’s one thing the Tigers know it's that a red-hot team coming into the postseason loves to play spoiler.
The Detroit Tigers have all the pressure to build on last season’s playoff success
The Tigers have to build on last season and it won’t be easy to do that. Not with the bullpen and the pressure on the rest of the roster to play elite. Kahnle and Torres both played with the Yankees last year in their run to the World Series, but the Yankees came up short to the Los Angeles Dodgers. It makes you wonder if either player can make up for last year on a new team.
Torres wasn’t horrible, but by any means, didn’t necessarily help the Yankees when they needed him. It could be the same fate the Tigers have this postseason, which isn’t ideal. On top of that, Kahnle, if he’s the best arm in the bullpen right now, the Tigers are going to need a whole lot of luck this year.
Last year, they were able to rely on their bullpen amid a playoff push and eventually in the postseason. But it eventually wore on them as any time Tarik Skubal wasn’t on the mound, the Tigers were liable to choke. Though Jack Flaherty is back, the teams with the best bullpens typically perform the best.
The Tigers will be relying heavily on former Yankees players to keep them hot in the postseason. The Yankees let them go for a reason and if the Tigers have all their faith in them come October, the Tigers will realize how desperate of a move it was to bring them in.