TIGERS ANNOUNCE FINAL DECISION ON FATE OF MANAGER AFTER COLLAPSE
The Detroit Tigers went down in the history books for their 2025 season, for all the wrong reasons.
Until the All-Star break, the Tigers appeared to be cruising to the American League Central Division pennant, with a 14-game lead over the Minnesota Twins and Kansas City Royals (who were tied for second place) as late as July 8 — and a 15 1/2-game lead over the Cleveland Guardians.
By Sept. 24 the lead was completely gone, after the Tigers went 26-39 between those two dates. The Tigers stood one game behind the Guardians, surrendering 16 1/2 games in the standings in about 2 1/2 months. Cleveland ended up winning the division, but Detroit gained a measure of redemption by ousting the Guardians in a three-game wild card Series before suffering their own early exit by falling in five games to the Seattle Mariners in the division series round.
On Monday, the Tigers announced their plans for manager A.J. Hinch, after he presided over the record-setting collapse.
The Tigers’ fold was largest in MLB history, exceeding even the New York Giants of 1914 who held a 15 game lead on July 4 over the last-place (in an eight-team National League) Boston Braves, who then comeback to win the pennant.
But on Monday, in a joint season-wrapping press conference, Tigers president of baseball operations Scott Harris and Hinch announced that not only would the 51-year-old manager return in 2026 for his sixth season as the team’s skipper, but that the decision has been made weeks ago.
According to reporter Steve Adams of MLB Trade Rumors, the club and the manager “quietly agreed to a long-term contract extension during the 2025 season.”
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The Tigers make it a policy to keep terms of their deals with managers and coaches under wraps, so the exact length of Hinch’s new deal is not publicly known. Nor was his salary revealed.
But after the Tigers hired Hinch in 2020 following his enforced yearlong absence from baseball, a penalty for his involvement in — or at least failure to stop — the Houston Astros 2017 cheating scandal.
“Hinch was in his third year as the Astros’ manager when players used cameras and banged on trash cans to steal signs and gain an unfair advantage en route to winning the 2017 World Series,” wrote Detroit Free Press journalist Evan Petzold at the time of Hinch’s hiring by the Tigers. “Hinch and bench coach Alex Cora were suspended by Major League Baseball for the 2020 season because of their actions — or in Hinch’s case, inaction — in the scandal.”
When Hinch was hired, the belief around baseball was that his contract ran through the 2025 season. But in 2023 the Tigers granted him a contract extension. Two years later, they have now given him another one.
According to Adams, “Hinch ostensibly is now signed through at least 2027.”
Since taking over as Tigers manager, Hinch has compiled a losing record of 394-416, with two postseason appearances. The Tigers also lost in the division series in 2024, to the Guardians in five games.
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2025-10-13T18:48:50Z
