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The Detroit Tigers came into the 2026 season with a ton of hype surrounding them. They held onto their ace Tarik Skubal and paired him with another big-time lefty, Framber Valdez, and signed Justin Verlander to return to Detroit.
However, those moves have not really paid off. Skubal missed more than a month after undergoing a procedure on his elbow, and Valdez is sitting with a 4-4 record with a 4.05 over 95.2 innings of work.
Bringing back Verlander may have been a big mistake, as he sits with a 0-1 record and a blistering 12.27 ERA over the course of 3.2 innings of work.
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High expectations burn out as Tigers net a disastrous midpoint grade
Going into Wednesday's games, the Tigers have a lot of work to do to turn things around. They hold a 38-49 record, eight games behind the Chicago White Sox, who lead the American League Central.
They still have time, but it's looking more and more like the Tigers will be sellers instead of buyers at the trade deadline. And with this, Bleacher Report's Tim Kelly has given this club a failing grade in his latest mid-season progress report.
"It may ultimately pay dividends for the Tigers to trade two-time defending AL Cy Young Award winner Tarik Skubal before the Aug. 3 trade deadline, but that would be a disastrous outcome given the expectations the team had entering the season... Anything is possible, but barring a historic hot stretch in July, the Tigers are probably going to be pretty active sellers."
Four of the team's next seven series come against teams that hold a record below .500. So, some others are going to have to step up over the next few weeks, or this team could look a whole lot different after the August 3rd deadline.
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