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Justin Verlander talks about the end of the season
Overall, while the Detroit Tigers had some amazing slugging power from players like Miguel Cabrera and J.D. Martinez, and some great pitching from Justin Verlander and some very young players, the team just wasn't good enough to be World Series contenders, Detroit News columnist Lynn Henning writes:
It could be argued that the Tigers, if anything, got the maximum from a team that lost for weeks at a time either Jordan Zimmermann, or J.D. Martinez, or Nick Castellanos, or Cameron Maybin, or Victor Martinez, or Jose Iglesias, or James McCann, on and on.
But injuries are part of any season. What was different about 2016 is that the Tigers from the outset seemed to lack the drive-train required to beat teams they were bound to face in October.
And they did. They simply weren’t good enough to qualify.
It began with pitching.
Zimmermann, who was to pair with Justin Verlander as part of a deadly 1-2 rotation punch, was hurt and became something of a non-factor. Anibal Sanchez, so vital to manager Brad Ausmus’ starting crew, spent much of the year in the bullpen. Mike Pelfrey looked at the time of his December free-agent signing to be a bad investment and instead became a disaster and credibility hit for a new Tigers front office. It took kids to save Detroit’s baseball year.