Detroit Tigers manager A.J. Hinch feels the importance of playing for a national audience on ESPN’s “Sunday Night Baseball,” but maybe not for the expected reason.
“It’s a night getaway is really the only difference for us,” he said on Sunday, June 29.
Sunday night games break the typical series-ending routine for the teams involved. Sunday’s game against the Minnesota Twins was set to begin at 7:10 p.m. — approximately the time the Tigers are, typically, hours done with their game, and either relaxing at home or on the road to their next city.
Not this time, though. Instead of kicking their feet up at home or on a plane, the Tigers were going to be playing the last MLB game of the week.
But that’s not the only reason ‘Sunday Night Baseball” matters so much for Hinch. The manager revealed that on a typical Sunday getaway day, the coaching staff usually watches the back half of the Sunday Night Baseball broadcast — after the Tigers have reached their destination. Probably because it’s their job to keep up with how teams are playing, but also because, as Hinch put it, it’s a “cool event.”
This time, though, they’ll watch the entire game from their dugout.
“We’re the one game on the scoreboard,” he said. “I think you learn that a little bit, the more playoffs you’re in. You look out there and it’s no longer 15 games being played.”
That sort of attention is something the Tigers have invited more of over the last couple of years. Starting with Detroit’s 3-2 win over the New York Yankees in the 2024 Little League Classic in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, on Aug. 18 to the Tigers’ playoff run in October, baseball fans outside of Michigan have gotten a much closer view of the Tigers than in recent years.
Hinch said that his players are getting used to the recent increase in national games (and they’ll have another one on Saturday, July 5, facing the Cleveland Guardians on the road on Fox).
“I think our guys are pretty well-versed in handling some of the responsibilities that come with these,” he said. “And hopefully as we get better and better, we have to deal with things like this more and more. And I see it as a good thing.”
Hinch acknowledged that the turnaround after a Sunday-night game can be “grueling,” but that the Tigers benefit from having an off day on Monday, June 30, before their three-game series on the road against the Washington Nationals.
Until then, he’s enjoying his chance to play on the national stage.
“(If) you want to watch baseball tonight, you’re going to watch the Tigers,” Hinch said, “and I think that’s a cool accomplishment in itself,” he said.
Tigers still haven’t decided on Reese Olson’s return
Right-handed pitcher Reese Olson was in the clubhouse before Sunday’s game, but there’s still no word on whether the Tigers will hand the ball to him in their series against the Nationals.
Olson last pitched for the Tigers on May 17, when he suffered a finger injury on his throwing hand in a 2-1 loss against the Toronto Blue Jays in Toronto. The team placed him on the 15-day injured list two days later, and he recently completed a rehab assignment with Triple-A Toledo on June 25.
The Tigers have yet to determine a starter for Wednesday’s game, with Hinch saying “all options are still on the table.” Right hander Jack Flaherty is listed as the starter for the series opener on Tuesday, July 1, and left-hander Dietrich Enns is listed as the starter for the finale on Thursday, July 3.
The Tigers could use Olson back in the rotation. Before he landed on the IL, Olson had put up a 2.96 ERA in 48 ⅔ innings over nine starts, showcasing an effective changeup that had become a go-to out pitch.
But the Tigers staff has suffered a few injuries along with Olson’s absence, with Casey Mize going more than two weeks between starts after suffering a hamstring strain on May 10 and Jackson Jobe being lost for the season with a damaged ulnar collateral ligament in his throwing elbow, requiring Tommy John surgery.
The team has used a patchwork of starters to fill in for those absences, giving spot starts or bulk relief appearances this season to Keider Montero, Sawyer Gipson-Long and now Enns.
Olson isn’t on the active roster, meaning the Tigers would have to send a player down to bring Olson up.