A.J. Hinch Pushes Back as Tigers Face Mounting Playoff Pressure
· Yahoo Sports
The Detroit Tigers have spent most of the season moving between extremes. Their manager has no interest in letting those swings change how his team approaches the next game.
Detroit entered Monday night’s series opener against the Tampa Bay Rays at 61-69 after losing five straight and eight of nine. The Tigers sit seven games behind the Chicago White Sox in the American League Central and 3.5 games out of the final Wild Card position with 32 games remaining. MLB’s current standings show just how much ground Detroit has surrendered.
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The projections are even less forgiving. FanGraphs currently gives Detroit a 4.8% chance of reaching the postseason, the first time that figure has fallen below 5% this season.
A.J. Hinch understands what those numbers say. His concern is what happens if his players begin carrying them onto the field.
Hinch Has No Use for the Outside Noise
Before Monday’s game, Hinch was asked about the dramatic shift surrounding his team. Detroit recently had a chance to move into first place in the division. Less than two weeks later, questions have shifted toward whether its season is slipping away.
Hinch did not hide his frustration with how quickly the conversation has changed.
“Ten days ago, you were printing playoff tickets. Ten days later, I’m getting asked about end-of-season s—,” Hinch told The Detroit News. “Like, that’s an amazing job I have. … And I understand. That’s the state of, like, now we’re into playoff odds. All this stuff is noise. ,,, We don’t bring that noise into there (Hinch pointed to the clubhouse), because it doesn’t help us win. That’s why I’m here.
“You guys are asking me the questions, and I get animated, because I care about those guys, and they’re doing their best. Like, they’re trying, you know? We’re wearing it and feeling it because it sucks to go through this rollercoaster ride, when we feel like we could be better, and that’s why we’re going to do the early work.
“You just gotta keep putting one foot in front of the other and we’re grinding. And I think the experience will help that we’ve done it before. But then you gotta go out and do it.”
That final sentence gets to the heart of Detroit’s situation.
The Tigers can talk about experience. They can point to previous comebacks. They can insist the clubhouse remains engaged.
They still have to win.
Detroit’s recent problems have not been confined to one area. Its offense has struggled badly in close situations, while injuries and pitching changes have continued reshaping the roster.
There is no motivational shortcut around any of that.
Hinch Rejects the Idea That Pressure Comes and Goes
Hinch also pushed back on the idea that Detroit played more freely when expectations were lower and tightened when the stakes increased.
His argument was simple: Major League players face pressure every day, regardless of where the standings place them.
“I don’t know that it’s entirely accurate to think about it that way because … whether you’re five games out of first or 50 games out of first, that’s pressure,” Hinch said. “This group’s never come to the park thinking less of ourselves or thinking that it doesn’t matter or that there’s only upside. There’s a lot to play for daily, whether you’re counting how many games you’re behind or whether you’re way ahead. The season is not this, like, linear walk. I don’t want to get all preachy on you, but it doesn’t walk, like, step by step perfectly, right? You’re gonna have to handle the ups and downs of a season over 162 (games), and it isn’t really how you handle the perception of whether you’re in it or not or the standings. It’s how do I handle the ups and downs that the sport naturally gives you? And I think our guys have handled that really well.
“I’m gonna get to this toward the end of the season when you start talking about, like, the massive good times and the massive bad times, which I’m assuming is what you’re thinking. I don’t have the answer right now because the season’s not over. We’re not conceding anything yet. But I think we look at it in a way smaller way when you’re in uniform and you’re playing through the games, because you’ve got plenty of stress on a daily basis that you got to deal with that doesn’t come with external expectations or, you know, games behind and games ahead.
“So I think our guys show up ready to play every day. This is not a group that dives too deep into the ups and downs that sometimes the sport forces you to think about.”
The Tigers have evidence to support at least part of Hinch’s argument.
They entered August facing questions about whether the front office’s trade-deadline decisions effectively ended their season. The players rejected that idea. Kevin McGonigle publicly pushed back against those writing Detroit off after the Tigers continued competing following the deadline.
The problem now is that belief has collided with results.
Detroit went from chasing first place to chasing six teams ahead of it in the Wild Card race. That does not mean the clubhouse has quit. It means the margin for another prolonged losing stretch has nearly disappeared.
Detroit’s Challenge Has Become Smaller, Not Easier
Hinch’s approach is to strip away that larger picture once the game begins.
Sunday’s loss in Kansas City does not help the Tigers face Tampa Bay starter Drew Rasmussen. Neither does a playoff probability, a division deficit or a reminder of what happened a week ago.
“I don’t know how to better explain that. It’s the way the sport is built. Like, we face the Rays today, and that has nothing to do with our, you know, issue yesterday giving up three big innings and losnig the game (in a sweep in Kansas City),” Hinch said. “We try to really focus on the things that we can control. The outside, like, peaks and valleys are just not part of one. We’re well aware of it. … There’s emotion, but then the next day, you wake up, none of that stuff helps you face (Rays pitcher Drew) Rasmussen, who’s really good.
“You have to reset in order to just compete. I don’t think pressure is lifted or applied based on anything other than the competition level to stay at this level.
“It’s a baseball season, and you’ve got to be able to navigate a few off-ramps here and there.”
Detroit has had considerably more than a smooth ride this season.
A 6-22 May appeared capable of burying the Tigers before they recovered. They climbed back into contention, reached a point where a sweep of Chicago would have put them atop the division, then immediately began another slide.
Injuries have added to the instability. Riley Greene’s hamstring strain removed one of Detroit’s most important hitters during the playoff push, and the Tigers have repeatedly adjusted their pitching staff around health and performance.
That is the season Hinch is describing. Rarely has every part of the roster functioned properly at the same time.
“You’re never perfectly aligned. You’re never playing great offense, defense, pitching, your bullpen, your rotation (at the same time). Like, it’s not perfect. The sport is imperfect, so you gotta navigate those,” Hinch said. “Our guys are well-equipped to do it because we’ve done it before.
“We’ve got to be comfortable with the fact that we’re going to take a step forward today or we’re going to take a step backward. That’s baseball.
“And we need to take more steps forward to get where we’re going to go.”
There is not much left to add to that.
Detroit’s playoff odds are ugly. Its recent record is worse. Neither changes what Hinch expects from his clubhouse Monday night.
The Tigers do not need to solve the final 32 games at once.
They need to stop stepping backward.