As the Detroit Tigers' playoff chances keep waning after another loss on Wednesday night to the Cleveland Guardians, 5-1, there's still shock from the fanbase on how the team once held a comfortable lead in the AL Central. While fans look for who to blame for the Tigers' collapse of a close to 16-game lead in the division, manager A.J. Hinch gets real on the path in front of the team.
After the aforementioned loss to Cleveland, Hinch would speak on how “painful” another loss is and what the “reality” for the team looks like with four games left in the season, via Reddit user “MotorCityKitties.” Though after, Hinch would emphasize how “there's still a lot of life in the dugout.”
“It's painful,” Hinch said. “I'm having a hard time coming up with words, obviously, and I know that's not always that acceptable or the norm, but what I'm seeing out of our team is not normal, but unfortunately, it's our reality.”
Tigers' A.J. Hinch on trying to “right the ship”
Despite the Tigers' brutal collapse on the season, the team still controls its own destiny in making the playoffs, holding a one-game lead in the final wild card spot over the Houston Astros. Hinch would be asked about the fall from grace, but is more focused on what's ahead for Detroit and how they can “right the ship.”
“I try really hard not to think of it that way, because I got a job to do every day,” Hinch said. “So I, as a baseball person, like I know exactly what's going on and what has gone on, I'll have plenty of time to process all this, you know, in due time. But I try to get these guys ready to play the next day, because it is the day that we can control and the day that we can kind of right the ship, and get back in the win column.”
“At the end of the day, this is going to impact a lot of people, meaning the frustrations and the magnitude of how we've gotten here,” Hinch continued. “We've got too many games left to focus on that right now. And as much as that answer doesn't satisfy the masses, we have nothing to do but get ready for tomorrow's game, because we got to play the schedule like I've said for six months.”
The Tigers finish the series against the Guardians before the final series of the regular season against the Boston Red Sox.
