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Detroit Tigers secret is out: A rare team meeting sparked stunning MLB playoff surge
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- Detroit Tigers secret is out: A rare team meeting sparked stunning MLB playoff surge
HOUSTON – You wanna know the turning point of this season for the Detroit Tigers?
You wanna know when everything flipped?
How this team fought back from being trade deadline sellers to playing in the postseason?
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It may have started after a rare team meeting – after the trade deadline, right around the time they played the New York Yankees in MLB's Little League Classic on Aug. 18 .
Detroit Tigers manager A.J. Hinch, right, hugs general manager Jeff Greenberg after 4-1 win over Chicago White Sox to clinch a wild card spot in the MLB playoff at Comerica Park in Detroit on Friday, Sept. 27, 2024.
Tigers manager A.J. Hinch brought his team together and several familiar players were gone, including Mark Canha , Andrew Chafin and Carson Kelly .
But several were in the process of returning, including Riley Greene , Kerry Carpenter and Parker Meadows .
In some ways, it was a new team.
And it was at an inflection point.
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"When team meetings happen, usually things aren't going well, and you're like, well, what is this going to be? What is it going to be like?" pitcher Beau Brieske said Wednesday. "And it wasn't us getting blasted. It wasn't anything bad. It was more so just asking us and kind of having everyone look in the mirror and ask themselves, what am I doing to be a part of a winning team? Because right now, at that time, we were not a winning team. There was a lot of things that we could be doing individually and then as a group to help build towards wins."
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The Tigers could sit around and mope and basically just play out the year.
Or they could play for something.
They could try to win.
Hinch laid out the path:
It would take sacrifice.
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It would mean taking on new roles – starters becoming relievers; relievers becoming starters.
It would take embracing uncertainty and new roles.
"Yeah, that was a special moment for us," Matt Vierling said Wednesday. "To get that speech from him was really cool. We worked super hard to get there. So I'm sure he prepared that. But, I mean, yeah. We were just excited at that point. To be a playoff team is something we strived for the whole year. To actually see it come true was huge for us. So, yeah, I think just that moment, to have him say that at that point and to actually be a playoff team was pretty special."
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Brieske remembers it the same way.
"What I remember is just to try to put everything else to the side and realize that the goal, as a group, is to try to win," Brieske said. "And all of the numbers and all of the contract stuff, that's also what he said. He said, 'All of that stuff will take care of itself if you go out there and you play for one another and you go out there and win' … I would imagine that it probably aligned with a turning point in the season. So, yeah, it was impactful for sure."
Obviously, now we know what this team chose.
The answer came on a magical night in Comerica Park, when the Tigers beat the Chicago White Sox , 4-1, capturing a berth in the post season, ending the Tigers playoff drought.
Detroit Tigers manager A.J. Hinch (14) waves at fans as he exits the field after 4-1 win over Chicago White Sox to clinch a wild card spot in the MLB playoff at Comerica Park in Detroit on Friday, Sept. 27, 2024.
And it culminated, as Hinch carried a bottle of champagne into the Tigers clubhouse.
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"Hey listen, it's gonna burn," Hinch said, walking through the clubhouse.
Yes, Hinch knows a thing or two about how beer and champagne can burn the eyes.
"This is called punching your ticket to October," Hinch told his team, in a moment that was captured on video. "Special teams do special things. And we got an opportunity to do something special. We ask a lot out of you guys, all year, all year we've asked a lot out of you guys to do something for the guy next to you."
Then, Hinch referenced that team meeting.
"And when I asked you in the middle of the season, remember I asked you, what kind of team do you want to be? I guess you wanted to be a playoff team."
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Hinch popped the cork and sprayed the champagne in the air.
It was like he was showing his guys how to celebrate a win.
His final regular season lesson.
Detroit Tigers manager A.J. Hinch, left, talks to second base Jace Jung, right, in the dugout before a game between the Detroit Tigers and the Tampa Bay Rays at Comerica Park in Detroit on Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024.
And in some ways, it all started with that team meeting.
"Yeah, it felt great," Vierling said Wednesday, thinking back to that celebration. "It's kind of a culmination of a year's hard work to get to that point. Yeah, we definitely celebrated accordingly, and it was a lot of fun. So, yeah, to get a speech like that in that moment was really special for all of us."
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Tigers secret is out: Rare team meeting ignited stunning playoff surge
