This story was excerpted from Jason Beck’s Tigers Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

MINNEAPOLIS -- Tigers manager A.J. Hinch laid out the challenge for his club long before first pitch Monday at Target Field. “I told the guys: This is going to be the toughest environment to play in mentally,” he said Monday afternoon from the mercifully-heated dugout bench. “Just because the conditions

DETROIT -- The 0-2 slider from Keider Montero dropped in on Cardinals slugger Iván Herrera, leading off the fourth inning. The grid on the Peacock broadcast showed the pitch just off the outside corner; plate umpire Mark Wegner saw it the same way. Tigers catcher Dillon Dingler saw it differently.

DETROIT -- Kerry Carpenter has hit enough big home runs on baseball’s biggest stages that there’s a classic, recognizable Kerry Carpenter swing. Saturday’s home run wasn’t one of them. Cardinals starter Dustin May had followed a changeup off the plate with a changeup right on the outside corner, a pitch

DETROIT -- The Tigers couldn’t have scripted a much better return for Justin Verlander to Comerica Park: A national stage for a Sunday night broadcast with the downtown Detroit skyline lit up in the background. But with a 43-year-old pitcher, health is hard to plan. Verlander’s return to the mound

DETROIT -- For a few innings Friday, the Tigers seemed just as snakebitten in their return to Comerica Park as they were for three days in Arizona. Framber Valdez and Dillon Dingler turned their fortunes around in one inning. It wasn’t as easy as the 4-0 win over the Cardinals

DETROIT – The drive down Interstate 75 toward downtown felt just like yesterday for Justin Verlander as he made his way to Comerica Park on Friday morning for the Tigers’ home opener. The roads are better, but the route is the same. “Coming to the park, getting on the interstate

PHOENIX -- A good portion of Kingman, Ariz., showed up for local hero Tarik Skubal’s homecoming. So did Diamondbacks star Corbin Carroll, and he wasn’t nearly as hospitable.

PHOENIX -- This was the form that Casey Mize had been searching for all Spring Training. This was the frenetic Tigers offense that had erupted early on Opening Day in San Diego. This was the type of late lead the Tigers had built their bullpen to protect.

PHOENIX – What happens when a Major League team on a season-opening road trip shares a hotel with the NFL owners’ meetings? Two of Detroit’s most prominent sports figures finally get a chance to meet over coffee.

This story was excerpted from Jason Beck's Tigers Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

PHOENIX -- Justin Verlander remains all business on his way into the park, headphones on, mind focused. It’s one of the signature looks of his incredible career, and it’s a snapshot of the thought and concentration he puts into his work.

PHOENIX -- Justin Verlander has made it clear he’s a different pitcher, and in some ways a different person, than the former Cy Young Award winner and MVP who was a larger-than-life presence during his first Tigers tenure. At age 43, he can’t help it. In fact, he embraces it.

SAN DIEGO -- Watch Kenley Jansen hesitate in the middle of his delivery, his front leg dangling above the mound, and it’s easy to get the sense of a world-class soccer striker approaching a penalty kick -- slowing but never stopping, probing for a weakness while keeping his opponent guessing

SAN DIEGO -- For a second, Kevin McGonigle looked like he was going to get another bases-loaded opportunity. Then came the called third strike from plate umpire Malachi Moore. Spencer Torkelson clearly thought the 3-2 fastball from Padres starter Randy Vásquez was outside. He was hunched over, shedding his shin

SAN DIEGO -- Kevin McGonigle was denied his first Major League home run by a leaping grab from Jackson Merrill. He could not be denied the last laugh, no matter how many inside sinkers and changeups Wandy Peralta tried to get past him. One pitch after another, the 34-year-old Peralta

The Tigers haven’t always had a collection of young talent like they’ve assembled in recent years, but their franchise history includes plenty of memorable debuts – some from future stars, others from young players who came seemingly out of nowhere. Many of their best young players had rough introductions to

SAN DIEGO – How historic was Kevin McGonigle’s 4-for-5, two-double, two-RBI performance in his Major League debut? Only one Tiger in the franchise’s previous 125 seasons had posted a four-hit game in his first big league game. That was Billy Bean, who went 4-for-6 with two runs scored and an

SAN DIEGO -- Kevin McGonigle should’ve been a nervous wreck Thursday morning. He’d been up late waiting for his parents to land from Philadelphia, flying cross country to see their son make his MLB debut. Like a kid on Christmas Eve, he had too much energy to sleep. As much

SAN DIEGO -- Surely, the Tigers and Padres would be happy enough if their seasons were to end with a 1984 World Series rematch. At the very least, their 2026 seasons will start that way. Detroit and San Diego square off in a three-game series beginning Thursday afternoon at Petco

The Tigers officially entered a new era of broadcast on Monday with the launch of Detroit SportsNet, a year-round TV and streaming home for the Tigers and Red Wings.

SAN DIEGO -- When Tarik Skubal takes the mound in San Diego on Thursday afternoon, he’ll be making his first appearance at Petco Park, as a pitcher at least. Long before Skubal was the most fearsome left-hander in baseball, he was a college kid looking to go somewhere warm on

SAN DIEGO – Rarely does a Major League manager get to tell a player he’s getting called up to the big leagues for his MLB debut. Usually, that falls upon a Minor League manager or player development director, because the player is being called up from an affiliate in the

The Tigers warned all along that their Opening Day roster decisions could come down to the day before their season opener in San Diego. Last year, they took their decisions all the way up to the deadline. This time, they made their choices with a day to spare. When president

This story was excerpted from Jason Beck's Tigers Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.