Meet 7 prospects Detroit Tigers are sending to Arizona Fall League, including Kevin McGonigle
On “Days of Roar,” Evan Petzold and Chris Brown discuss the seven prospects from the Detroit Tigers participating in the 2025 Arizona Fall League.
- The Detroit Tigers lost to the Boston Red Sox, 4-3, to miss out on a chance to win the AL Central.
- Right-hander Chris Paddack was tagged for four runs in 4 1/3 innings in a spot start.
- Javier Báez homered in the fourth inning to give the Tigers a brief 3-1 lead in the fourth inning.
BOSTON — The Detroit Tigers had an opportunity to win the American League Central in the final game of the 2025 regular season. For that to happen, the Tigers needed to win and the Cleveland Guardians needed to lose.
Neither happened.
The Tigers lost, 4-3, to the Boston Red Sox on Sunday, Sept. 28, in the finale of the three-game series at Fenway Park, entering the postseason with 13 losses in their final 16 games. The Guardians won the AL Central.
The Tigers (87-75) haven’t won back-to-back games since Sept. 9-10.
AL Central playoff picture for Tigers, Guardians
After the Tigers lost, the Guardians rallied twice to earn a 9-8 win over the Texas Rangers in extra innings.
The Guardians were trailing, 5-4, through seven innings, but they tied the game in the eighth to force extra innings. The Rangers scored three runs in the top of the 10th, but the Guardians countered with four runs in the bottom of the 10th.
The Guardians finished with one more win than the Tigers in the AL Central standings (along with securing the head-to-head tiebreaker), giving the Guardians the No. 3 seed and the Tigers the No. 6 seed in the AL playoffs. The rivals will play a best-of-three wild-card series at Progressive Field in Cleveland, beginning Tuesday (1:08 p.m., ESPN).
The winner of the wild-card series will face the Seattle Mariners — the AL West champs ranked as the No. 2 seed — in a best-of-five ALDS.
A failed rally for the Tigers
The Tigers had a chance to score on the Red Sox (89-73) in the ninth inning after Trey Sweeney’s walk and Andy Ibáñez’s single, both with one out against right-handed reliever Greg Weissert.
Manager A.J. Hinch could’ve pinch-hit Dillon Dingler, Riley Greene, Jahmai Jones or Spencer Torkelson, but he refused to put them in the game. He wanted Dingler, Greene and Torkelson to rest for the upcoming AL wild-card series.
Without a pinch-hitter, Jake Rogers struck out and Parker Meadows flew out to end the game.
“There’s so many downstream effects that come with that, with guys that have been going at it,” Hinch said after Sunday’s loss, explaining why he didn’t pinch-hit in the ninth inning. “We’ve got guys going through things. We’ve got guys that really did deserve the off day. What you saw is what we had.”
The Tigers haven’t won the AL Central since 2014, while the Guardians have won the division for the second straight season and third time in the past four seasons.
In December 2024, the Tigers set winning the AL Central as their goal for the 2025 season.
Javier Báez hits a big blast
For a moment, the Tigers were in position to steal the AL Central from the Guardians.
Javier Báez blasted a three-run home run for a 3-1 lead in the top of the fourth inning, but the Red Sox immediately clawed back for a 4-3 lead with three runs in the bottom of the fourth.
It was Báez’s 12th homer in 126 games.
To set up the big swing, the Tigers put two runners on base against right-hander José De León with back-to-back singles from Justyn-Henry Malloy and Kerry Carpenter. To cash in, Báez clobbered De León’s slider at the bottom of the strike zone over the Green Monster with one out.
After falling behind 4-3, the Tigers had an opportunity to retake the lead with two outs in the seventh inning, as left-handed reliever Steven Matz replaced De León to face Zach McKinstry.
There were runners on the corners.
McKinstry grounded out to strand the runners.
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Chris Paddack starts
Right-hander Chris Paddack won’t make the Tigers’ wild-card roster, so he started Sunday’s game against the Red Sox. He allowed four runs on seven hits and four walks with five strikeouts across 4⅓ innings, throwing 104 pitches.
The Tigers probably would’ve liked Paddack to pitch deeper into the game.
The Red Sox took a 1-0 lead on Masataka Yoshida’s home run in the first inning. He destroyed a changeup from Paddack, who left the pitch over the middle of the strike zone. The Red Sox then scored three runs for a 4-3 lead in the fourth inning, thanks to David Hamilton’s two-run home run and Jarren Duran’s RBI double.
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Paddack finished the season with a 5.35 ERA in 33 games (28 starts), including a 6.32 ERA in 12 games (seven starts) since the Tigers acquired him from the Minnesota Twins before the July 31 trade deadline.
Paul Sewald, Tanner Rainey pitch
After Paddack, the Tigers sent right-handed relievers Paul Sewald and Tanner Rainey to the mound because they’re not expected to be on the wild-card roster.
Sewald tossed 1⅔ scoreless innings.
Rainey completed two innings.
In the fifth, Sewald inherited runners on first and second from Paddack with one out. He walked the first batter he faced to load the bases, but he escaped damage with two outs in a row: Hamilton popped out and Nick Sogard struck out.
Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him @EvanPetzold.
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