What happens when a team that was 15½ games ahead in July is now just one game ahead with only a few days left in the season? The Detroit Tigers are living that nightmare, and their president’s controversial choices at the trade deadline are now under scrutiny as one of baseball’s most shocking collapses happens right in front of our eyes.

Scott Harris, the Tigers’ president of baseball operations, took a risk that could now ruin Tarik Skubal’s chances of winning the Cy Young Award and the team’s first trip to the playoffs since 2014. Harris said that the idea of a championship window was “an illusion, that’s not a real thing” when asked about how important it was for Skubal to win a title during his prime years. That way of thinking led Detroit to take a conservative approach at the trade deadline, putting future flexibility ahead of immediate help.

The following criticism has been swift and merciless. On the Talkin’ Baseball YouTube channel, analysts Coach Trev and Talkin’ Jake didn’t mince words about Harris’s strategy. “Boy, is he paying the price,” they noted, highlighting how the Tigers “needed starting pitching and everyone in the world saw it.” The hosts emphasized the harsh reality Harris seemed to ignore. 

“Tarik Skubal being on your team and then not being on your team in a couple of years. That’s a real thing. Unless you fork up $400 million, which I don’t think they’re going to do.” They drove the point home further, stating, “So that means there is a Tarik Skubal window. And if you can’t see that, maybe you and I, I mean, we always talk about going into a front office. Tigers, we saw that. We know there’s a window.” The analysts didn’t stop there, painting a vivid picture of the Tigers’ failed deadline strategy.

“They brought in Jack Saltman. Charlie Morton. They just DFA’d him. He’s gone. That didn’t work out,” they recounted, listing the underwhelming acquisitions. Coach Trev and Talkin’ Jake emphasized how Detroit addressed the wrong areas. “Kyle Finnegan’s been great. Paul Sewald, Kyle Finnegan. Paul Sewald just got back. He’s back. Like that’s bullpen stuff. But we’re talking about a team that needed starting pitching.” Their frustration was palpable as they concluded, “It’s been the pitching that was the problem at the deadline. They addressed the bullpen, which, you know, has been one of their strengths. They got more bullpen help.”

The numbers tell a terrible story.

The Detroit Tigers have lost 17 of their last 24 games, and their pitchers have an ERA of 5.32 in September. The Cleveland Guardians, on the other hand, have been on a roll, going 15-1 in September and turning what looked like an insurmountable lead into a very small one.

Despite the mounting pressure, Tigers manager A.J. Hinch remains defiant. “Don’t see our guys quitting,” Hinch told reporters after Atlanta completed their sweep. “I don’t see our guys down. Don’t see our guys pouting. I don’t see our guys conceding. I’m going to remind everybody that we’re a first-place team. We’re going to wake up tomorrow in first place with our destiny controlled by us.”

When you look at the specific moves that got the Detroit Tigers to this point, Hinch’s optimism sounds empty. The Tigers’ deadline plan didn’t just not meet their needs; it made things worse. What Harris thought would be smart additions ended up being the things that made this historic collapse happen.

Tigers trade deadline disasters haunt Scott Harris

Hinch’s brave words can’t hide the awful truth about how Detroit’s planned risks have backfired. The Tigers’ moves at the trade deadline went from being hopeful additions to cautionary tales that perfectly sum up everything that went wrong with this collapse.

Management ended Charlie Morton’s time in Detroit on Sunday with a shocking finality. The veteran right-hander became the face of Harris’s mistake, showing how wrong the front office’s deadline strategy was. His Friday night breakdown against Atlanta told the whole story. He gave up six earned runs, five hits, and two walks in just 1.1 innings, leading to a terrible 10-1 loss.

The Braves didn’t just beat Detroit in the last game of the series; they systematically tore them apart, winning all three games by a score of 22-10.

Chris Paddack, the other big deadline signing, too, hasn’t been able to give Detroit the stability it really needs either.

When your big new hires fail under pressure, it shows that your whole approach is flawed. Detroit now has to deal with tough math. Their starting rotation is a mess, but they’re holding on to a paper-thin one-game lead over Cleveland in the division. Tarik Skubal, Jack Flaherty, Casey Mize, and Keider Montero will have to deal with this somehow during the last week of the season, probably by pitching in the bullpen during important road series against the Guardians and Red Sox.