Inside the Article:
While the Detroit Tigers find themselves on a particularly hot streak of late with five wins in their last seven games and now within striking distance of the Minnesota Twins for 1st in the American League Central division, manager A.J. Hinch doesn’t want the team or their fans to get too ahead of themselves.
The Tigers have the fans talking
Other than a pair of shutout losses (one to the Twins and one to the Royals), the Tigers’ offense has come alive of late, with 36 combined runs scored in their last five wins. While they’re still a full nine games below the .500 mark, they’re only 4.5 games out of first place in the AL Central division, behind only the Cleveland Guardians and the Twins.
Hinch
But don’t expect Hinch to be throwing any parties right now, given their improved play of late. In fact, he says the team hasn’t earned the right to talk about it.
“We haven’t earned the right to talk like that,” he said. “You want to get where people don’t look at us and pat us on our head like a nice team that’s trying hard, play better, play better for a long time and then you’ll start to earn that designation.”
Hinch then went on to say that being well below the .500 mark despite now officially being competitive in their division isn’t where the fan base wants them to be long-term.
“I’m just not used to bragging about being under .500 and not in 1st place,” he said. “I don’t think Tigers fans want us to be where we’re at right now for very long, either, so that’s just one big misdirection.”
“You want to get somewhere where you matter, you want to get on national broadcasts, you want to get into the conversation where people don’t look at us and pat us on the head like we’re a nice team that’s trying hard, play better.”
It’s refreshing to hear this kind of honesty from Hinch, and hopefully, it will be serving as a springboard for the players to show that their recent winning ways aren’t just lightning in a bottle.
Wrapping It Up: Can the Tigers keep it going?
The Tigers will have the chance to make it six wins in their last eight games when they return to action tonight against the Twins.
If they were to continue their winning ways and take at least two of three, they’ll make up even more ground in the division and make the Twins extremely nervous.
