2008 Detroit Tigers season

2008 Detroit Tigers
Major League affiliations
Location
Other information
Owner(s) Mike Ilitch
General manager(s) Dave Dombrowski
Manager(s) Jim Leyland
Local television Fox Sports Detroit
(Mario Impemba, Rod Allen)
Local radio Detroit Tigers Radio Network
(Dan Dickerson, Jim Price)
Stats ESPN.com
BB-reference
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The Detroit Tigers 2008 season was the team's 108th season in Major League Baseball's American League. After being picked by many to win the AL Central Division and the World Series,[1][2] the Tigers started the season a disappointing 0-7 after being swept by the Kansas City Royals and Chicago White Sox. Their first victory of the season came against the Boston Red Sox. The Tigers did not reach a .500 winning record until their 80th game of the season.

Although they were eliminated from the pennant race by the season's final day (September 29), they nonetheless had to play a makeup game against the White Sox (who were trailing the Minnesota Twins by half a game), which Detroit had lost 8-2. The Tigers finished the season in last place in the AL Central, trailing the White Sox (who won the division by beating Minnesota in a one-game playoff the following day) by 14.5 games.

Despite the disappointing performance, the Tigers drew a franchise-record home attendance of 3,202,645 for the season. The team ranked third in the American League and eighth in Major League Baseball for home attendance in 2008.

Offseason

The Tigers started the offseason by trading prospects Jair Jurrjens and Gorkys Hernández to the Atlanta Braves for shortstop Edgar Rentería. Rentería took over the everyday shortstop job with Carlos Guillén moving to first base.

Reliever Joel Zumaya underwent surgery on October 31, 2007 for an AC joint reconstruction and was expected to miss half the 2008 season.[3]

The Tigers continued their offseason trading by acquiring Miguel Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis from the Florida Marlins in exchange for highly touted prospects Cameron Maybin and Andrew Miller, along with Mike Rabelo, Eulogio De La Cruz, Burke Badenhop and Dallas Trahern. Willis would sign a three-year, 29-million dollar contract extension, while Cabrera would receive an eight-year, 152.3-million dollar deal, the biggest contract in Tigers history.

During the offseason, the Tigers traded Omar Infante to the Chicago Cubs for Jacque Jones. They re-signed Todd Jones, and Kenny Rogers to one-year contracts. The Tigers also signed free agent Francisco Cruceta from the Texas Rangers organization to a one-year contract. Cruceta and Jacque Jones were eventually released during the season, and Todd Jones retired at the end of the season. The Tigers declined the option to sign Edgar Rentería at the end of the season.

Regular season

Season standings

AL Central W L Pct. GB Home Road
Chicago White Sox 89 74 0.546 — 54–28 35–46
Minnesota Twins 88 75 0.540 1 53–28 35–47
Cleveland Indians 81 81 0.500 7½ 45–36 36–45
Kansas City Royals 75 87 0.463 13½ 38–43 37–44
Detroit Tigers 74 88 0.457 14½ 40–41 34–47

Record vs. opponents

Team BAL BOS CWS CLE DET KC LAA MIN NYY OAK SEA TB TEX TOR NL
Baltimore – 6–12 4–5 4–4 4–3 5–3 3–6 3–3 7–11 0–5 8–2 3–15 4–5 6–12 11–7
Boston 12–6 – 4–3 5–1 5–2 6–1 1–8 4–3 9–9 6–4 6–3 8–10 9–1 9–9 11–7
Chicago 5–4 3–4 – 11–7 12–6 12–6 5–5 9–10 2–5 5–4 5–1 4–6 3–3 1–7 12–6
Cleveland 4–4 1–5 7–11 – 11–7 10–8 4–5 8–10 4–3 5–4 4–5 5–2 6–4 6–1 6–12
Detroit 3–4 2–5 6–12 7–11 – 7–11 3–6 7–11 4–2 3–6 7–3 3–4 6–3 3–5 13–5
Kansas City 3–5 1–6 6–12 8–10 11–7 – 2–3 6–12 5–5 6–3 7–2 3–5 2–7 2–5 13–5
Los Angeles 6–3 8–1 5–5 5–4 6–3 3–2 – 5–3 7–3 10–9 14–5 3–6 12–7 6–3 10–8
Minnesota 3–3 3–4 10–9 10–8 11–7 12–6 3–5 – 4–6 5–5 5–4 3–3 5–5 0–6 14–4
New York 11–7 9–9 5–2 3–4 2–4 5–5 3–7 6–4 – 5–1 7–2 11–7 3–4 9–9 10–8
Oakland 5–0 4–6 4–5 4–5 6–3 3–6 9–10 5–5 1–5 - 10–9 3–6 7–12 4–6 10–8
Seattle 2–8 3–6 1–5 5–4 3–7 2–7 5–14 4–5 2–7 9–10 – 3–4 8–11 5–4 9–9
Tampa Bay 15–3 10–8 6–4 2–5 4–3 5–3 6–3 3–3 7–11 6–3 4–3 – 6–3 11–7 12–6
Texas 5–4 1–9 3–3 4–6 3–6 7–2 7–12 5–5 4–3 12–7 11–8 3–6 – 4–4 10–8
Toronto 12–6 9–9 7–1 1–6 5–3 5–2 3–6 6–0 9–9 6–4 4–5 7–11 4–4 – 8–10

Game log

Legend
Tigers win Tigers loss Game postponed

Player stats

Batting

Note: Pos. = Position; G = Games played; AB = At Bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting Average; HR = Home Runs; RBI = Runs Batted In

Player Pos. G AB H Avg. HR RBI
Dusty Ryan C 15 44 14 .318 2 7
Magglio Ordóñez RF 146 561 178 .317 21 103
Plácido Polanco 2B 141 580 178 .307 8 58
Mike Hessman 3B 12 27 8 .296 5 7
Iván Rodríguez * C 82 302 89 .295 5 32
Miguel Cabrera 1B, 3B 160 616 180 .292 37 127
Carlos Guillén 3B, 1B, LF 113 420 120 .286 10 54
Clete Thomas LF, CF, RF 40 116 33 .284 1 9
Ramón Santiago SS, 2B, 3B 58 124 35 .282 4 18
Curtis Granderson CF 141 553 155 .280 22 66
Edgar Rentería SS 138 503 136 .270 10 55
Michael Hollimon 2B, SS 11 23 6 .261 1 2
Jeff Larish DH, 1B, 3B 42 104 27 .260 2 16
Matt Joyce LF, RF 92 242 61 .252 12 33
Marcus Thames LF, DH, 1B 103 316 76 .241 25 56
Ryan Raburn LF, RF, 2B, 3B, CF 92 182 43 .236 4 20
Gary Sheffield DH, LF 114 418 94 .225 19 57
Brent Clevlen LF, CF, RF 11 24 5 .208 0 1
Brandon Inge C, 3B, CF, LF 113 347 71 .205 11 51
Jacque Jones * LF 24 79 13 .165 1 5
Dane Sardinha C 17 44 7 .159 0 3

Note: Pitchers' batting statistics not included

Starting pitchers

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Armando Galarraga 30 178⅔ 13 7 3.73 126
Freddy García 3 15 1 1 4.20 12
Jeremy Bonderman 12 71⅓ 3 4 4.29 44
Justin Verlander 33 201 11 17 4.84 163
Eddie Bonine 5 26⅔ 2 1 5.40 9
Kenny Rogers 30 173⅔ 9 13 5.70 82
Nate Robertson 28 168⅔ 7 11 6.35 108
Dontrelle Willis 8 24 0 2 9.38 3

Relief pitchers

Player G W L SV HLD ERA SO
Jason Grilli * 9 0 1 0 0 3.29 10
Denny Bautista * 16 0 1 0 3 3.32 10
Joel Zumaya 21 0 2 1 5 3.47 22
Aquilino López 48 4 1 0 4 3.55 61
Freddy Dolsi 42 1 5 2 7 3.97 29
Clay Rapada 25 3 0 0 2 4.22 15
Zach Miner 45 8 5 0 6 4.27 62
Gary Glover * 18 1 1 0 3 4.43 15
Bobby Seay 60 1 2 0 13 4.47 58
Francis Beltrán 11 1 0 0 2 4.85 9
Fernando Rodney 38 0 6 13 5 4.91 49
Todd Jones 45 4 1 18 0 4.97 14
Francisco Cruceta 13 0 3 0 1 5.40 11
Casey Fossum 31 3 1 0 6 5.66 28
Chris Lambert 8 1 2 0 0 5.66 15
Kyle Farnsworth * 16 0 1 1 3 6.75 18
Yorman Bazardo 3 0 0 0 0 24.00 3

* Statistics only include games with Tigers

Roster

2008 Detroit Tigers
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

 Outfielders Manager

Coaches

Farm system

Level Team League Manager
AAA Toledo Mud Hens International League Larry Parrish
AA Erie SeaWolves Eastern League Tom Brookens
A Lakeland Flying Tigers Florida State League Andy Barkett
A West Michigan Whitecaps Midwest League Joe DePastino
A-Short Season Oneonta Tigers New York–Penn League Ryan Newman
Rookie GCL Tigers Gulf Coast League Basilio Cabrera

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to 2008 Detroit Tigers season.

References

  1. ↑ http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/preview08/news/story?page=08expertpicks
  2. ↑ http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/baseball/mlb/specials/spring_training/2008/previews/tigers.html
  3. ↑ Zumaya expected to miss half of '08 season after shoulder surgery
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