Alright folks, gather ’round. Today I wanted to really dig into the Detroit Tigers’ 2023 season. Seemed like a rollercoaster, right? I had a feeling their story wasn’t just in the win-loss column. So I grabbed my laptop, brewed a massive pot of coffee – super excited to uncover the real deal – and started pulling data.
First thing I did? Hit up the league stats page. Copied that raw, ugly data table straight into a spreadsheet. Man, staring at all those numbers – wins, losses, runs for, runs against, division standings – felt overwhelming at first glance. Like, where do you even start? Decided to just begin chronologically, month by month. Made sense.
The Ugly Start
Started punching in April’s numbers. Oof. Right off the bat, things looked rough. Didn’t even need the calculator yet; just seeing April: 10-16 staring back at me made me groan. Felt like déjà vu of past seasons. Why do they always seem to stumble out the gate?
That Glimmer of Hope… Then Crash
Kept scrolling down. May hits. My eyes nearly popped! May: 18-11! Seriously? Put my coffee down, rubbed my eyes. Checked the source again. Yep, eighteen wins! This was wild. Suddenly got super curious. What flipped the switch? Started frantically looking for more detail on that month. Found the game logs. Man, they rattled off wins like crazy! Started feeling maybe, just maybe…
- Swept the Mets? Nice.
- Took series from Cleveland? Solid.
- Even beat up on the Royals? Okay!
For a minute there, I was hyped. Dreaming big.
Reality Check Hits Hard
Then, like clockwork, June happened. Scrolled down further… and there it was. June: 9-18. My heart sank. The coffee suddenly tasted bitter. Went back to the May logs, compared. Runs scored plummeted. Injuries started popping up in the news section I had open on another tab. It all clicked painfully. That awesome May magic? Vanished, evaporated. Almost felt personal, like they were teasing me. Knew I had to dig deeper into why the offense just died.
Fighting the Inevitable
Spent hours staring at the rest of the summer months. July was bleh (12-13), August showed a tiny spark (14-13), September trickled out (12-15). Added up the wins and losses carefully. Did the math three times because it felt too close. Yep. 78 wins, 84 losses. Right smack on what I’d guessed early on, but seeing the proof felt different. Finished my now-cold coffee. Looked at their runs – scored 661, gave up 744. Let that sink in. That negative run difference (-83) screamed mediocrity. Flipped to individual stats sections. A few bright spots, sure, rookies showing flashes, but overall? A lot of batting averages starting with a “2” and ERAs starting with a “4” or higher. Numbers don’t lie. Felt the frustration of a fan building. Promising bits utterly crushed by inconsistency and lack of major league bats and arms.
So, wrapping it all up after staring at spreadsheets all morning? The Tigers in 2023? A big ol’ meh. Shone bright for a single hot minute in May, making you believe. Then spent the other five months reminding everyone why they were stuck at the bottom of the division yet again. The stats painted the whole, frustrating picture clear as day. Onto next year… hopefully.
