Baseball Isn’t Boring
Presser: Tigers Manager A.J. Hinch Talks Avoiding Collapse, Making Playoffs
27 Sep 2025
Chapter 1: What does A.J. Hinch feel about making the playoffs after a tough season?
Yeah, there should be some passion. This doesn't have to be boring. I mean, it feels incredible.
I mean, obviously, proud of our guys and being able to finish it with a win and in this ballpark. We're having a good time because we've earned it, but it's very rewarding to get to the postseason no matter how you do it. How much of that is kind of the message, right? You guys are in now, so whatever happens before doesn't matter. Everybody's going to start 0-0 whenever the games start.
Obviously, I'm going to sell that a lot because of the way we've come. We haven't given up on the division yet either. Obviously, we'll be watching and paying attention to what's going on around the league, but our guys are in this celebration, and because of how good we were for the majority of the season,
You know, we were able to withstand a really tough stretch and finish with a couple wins on this road trip.
The way you guys won today, Cater, Jemai, Javi, does that kind of reinforce the idea that you were at your best when everyone's contributing?
Yeah, we are the sum of the parts type of team. Cater did an incredible job, and everybody that we handed the ball to did their part.
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Chapter 2: How does A.J. Hinch emphasize the importance of teamwork in the Tigers' success?
It's one of our calling cards whenever Tarek's not pitching or Jack and Casey are both very reliable, but we always have a lot of weapons in the pen. And then on the defensive side, Javi's ball is probably single-handedly the most important play of the game because of where we were. We were falling behind. It would have been 2-0. It would have been a taller hill to climb. We do need everybody.
In September, we get 28. We used over 50 players this season to get to where we're at right now. It feels good when you can compliment so many players on a daily basis.
You've been to this point a lot. How big of a believer are you in the clean slate? You know what I mean? Just starting to pick the clean slate.
Yeah, I mean, this is, you know, we've been carrying a lot with us over the last month plus. And, you know, and I think it's been hard.
Chapter 3: What does A.J. Hinch say about the mental reset needed for the postseason?
I think it's been taxing. You're going to, you know, I think you're going to see a lot of guys. you know, mentally relax and even physically get a reset by the energy that's provided by the postseason. So they only let six teams in on each side, and I think we need to be reminded, or I need to remind these guys of that.
You've got to earn your way here, and that type of energy can only be felt in October or September 30th. Do you think Terrence Duvall is excited to not have to pitch tomorrow? I think he's excited to be on a postseason team again, knowing he's going to get game one, so...
It's a, you know, guys that have been in this organization, especially guys like Tarek and Casey, have seen some pretty lean years here. So for us to get to the postseason back-to-back seasons, I think it's very rewarding for not only them, but for our whole organization.
You saw Jack on the bullpen, you know, loosening up. Did that kind of underscore the...
urgency of the situation yeah i mean i mean these guys embrace the all hands on deck on a daily basis let alone when you're closing in on you know game 161 and uh and even if 162 was going to be needed um they'll do anything they'll do anything to help their team teammates win and it is guys like jack that represent um all the good that we're about you
When we were in the hug line, Javi was like, I'm back in the playoffs. It means something to him, especially having signed here and not got to experience it at this level last year. You know, he's come up with some big hits in the last few days, big defensive plays.
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Chapter 4: How does the team plan to approach their postseason strategy?
He's a presence on our team. And obviously, he's going to be ready to go come Tuesday.
With the way they kept your lefties out of the game, how huge has Jemai been for you? Yeah.
Yeah, I mean, you know, we keep preaching to our guys, if you just do your job, whatever is called upon you, it's going to help the team. And so part of Karp's job today was to keep their righties in the pen and give Jemai that opportunity, give Andy the opportunity, continue to put pressure on them. when you're on the bench. So, like, that's a way to contribute to a win.
And it's not, you know, glorified. It's not always talked about. And then you need Jemai to do his part, you know, when he does, you know, play in the first half. When you go into a bullpen game, oftentimes one of the most important stretches is the beginning of the game. So, getting into the game, I thought he threw quality strikes. He had all of his pitches, and he was unique.
He got the game to the middle part of the game where we can stretch it to the end.
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Chapter 5: What role do individual contributions play in the Tigers' recent victories?
So the guy that starts the game, even though he comes out early by sort of industry standards, it's every bit important to a win like this.
You said they've been carrying a lot the last month or so. How much relief is mixed in with that joy?
Yeah, I mean, listen, for the majority of this season, You know, we were asked about postseason. We were asked about October. We were asked about the path to get there and how we were going to prepare for it. We hadn't earned it yet. And so when the script flips and all of a sudden you're losing a lot of games, it's pretty taxing. You know, it's hard to close out games.
It's hard to close out seasons. But this team stayed together, which is the most important thing that happened in the span of the games that we struggled in is we never turned our back on one another. And that's a true definition of a team.