As the Detroit Tigers plan out their offseason and prioritize their needs, one place they’ll need to take a close look at is their lineup. Gleyber Torres is a free agent, and several spots like third base, shortstop, and center field could use upgrades over the incumbents.
In the playoffs, the Tigers learned a hard lesson. Their lineup was not World Series-caliber. In their eight postseason games, Detroit posted a collective .207/.290/.317 line alongside a 26.8% strikeout rate. Instead of a ferocious roar, all the Tigers’ bats could muster was a gentle purr.
With that, there are four key changes to the lineup they’ll need to make in order to build a unit that can not only produce throughout the 162-game marathon that is the regular season, but also put them in position to make a deep October run. Fortunately, some of these changes are interconnected, meaning that if Detroit is smart, it can kill two birds with one stone in a couple of cases.
What should 2026 Tigers lineup look like if they want to make a World Series run?
Cut down on the strikeouts
Strikeouts were an issue for Detroit this season, with the team posting the fourth-highest K-rate in the league at 23.9%. The club’s collective batting average ranked 16th at .247. Riley Greene, the team’s most fearsome bat, epitomized the issue. Fortunately, several players that fit key needs, such as third baseman Alex Bregman (14.1% K-rate), center fielder Cody Bellinger (13.7%), and Detroit’s own free agent second baseman Gleyber Torres (16.1%) should all be Tigers’ targets. Landing one or more would go a long way towards cutting down the whiffs and bringing contact balance to the lineup.
Find a legitimate middle of the order bat
Detroit had a pair of 30-plus home run hitters anchoring the middle of their lineup in Greene and Spencer Torkelson, plus promising young bats like Colt Keith and Wenceel Perez. However, when the chips were down, the middle of the Tigers’ order fell silent, going 0-23 with 10 strikeouts while being eliminated by the Seattle Mariners.
As good as Greene, Torkelson, and others are, they are not fearsome offensive engines that can propel a team to victory in the postseason. Where Detroit finds that will be tough. Do they believe Bregman can be that force? Do they look to do something wild and sign Pete Alonso (figuring out what to do with Torkelson later)? Do one of the Japanese stars, Munetaka Murakami or Kazuma Okamoto, strike their fancy and prove worthy of the dice roll? Maybe it’s Kyle Schwarber whom Scott Harris decides to pony up for? This isn’t an easy question, but waiting around for someone to develop into a true difference maker could be a recipe for stagnation.
Re-sign Gleyber Torres
We’ve already talked about Torres’s importance as one of the only Tigers’ hitters who consistently made contact and posted a better-than-average strikeout rate, but how good he really was got lost in his second-half slump.
Torres suffered, and played through, a sports hernia, which basically positioned the All-Star break as the line of demarcation. A healthy Torres slashed .281/.387/.425 in the first half while striking out just 12.8% of the time. Ailing in the second half, his K-rate rose to 20.4% while he slashed .220/.320/.339. The free-agent second base market is woefully thin behind Torres, and the best trade option is Tampa Bay’s Brandon Lowe, who excels with the bat but is pretty brutal with the glove. Simply put, Torres is clearly the best veteran option at second base.
Get quality veterans to fill at least two of the following positions: second base, shortstop, third base, and center field
Scott Harris has been adamant that the club’s top prospects will be major factors in their 2026 plans. To an extent, that’s a shrewd move, but only within reason. The Tigers’ four biggest needs on the offensive side of the ball could be covered by their most talented youngsters. Those positions would be second base, shortstop, third base, and center field.
Kevin McGonigle and Max Clark are two of the league’s top-10 most highly regarded youngsters, while Max Anderson and Hao-Yu Lee could both conceivably cover whatever open infield roles are not filled by McGonigle. However, rolling with that much youth at the same time is a big risk for a team with World Series aspirations.
The safer path would be to ensure that at least two of these open positions are filled by high-end veterans, either via free agency or trade. We’ve discussed some of the fits before, but two of the following: Bregman, Bellinger, and Torres would be ideal. That would still give Harris the chance to work in his talented farmhands without the weight of the world falling squarely on their shoulders.
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