The Baseball Scholar

Detroit Tigers Best Single Seasons

Dave Franks
2–3 minutes

This is a list of the Detroit Tigers best single seasons. I decided to select two players for each infield position, six outfielders (regardless of specific position), and one designated hitter for each AL team. Hitters had to play at least 51% of games at their position. For pitching, we selected seven starting pitchers, three non-closers, and two closers. Starting pitchers had to start at least 20 games during the selected season. Relief pitchers were deemed non-closers if they saved less than 10 games. Closers are pitchers that save more than 10 games.


  • Catcher – Bill Freehan, 1968

    • Bill Freehan
    wRC+ wOBA WAR G PA R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS
    149 .375 7.0 155 635 73 142 24 2 25 84 0 65 64 .263 .366 .454 .819

  • First Base – Norm Cash, 1961

    • Norm Cash
    wRC+ wOBA WAR G PA R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS
    194 .488 9.2 159 673 119 193 22 8 41 132 11 124 85 .361 .487 .662 1.148

  • Second Base – Charlie Gehringer, 1934

    • Charlie Gehringer
    wRC+ wOBA WAR G PA R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS
    149 .442 8.4 154 708 135 214 50 7 11 127 11 99 25 .356 .450 .517 .967

  • Third Base – Miguel Cabrera, 2013

    • Miguel Cabrera
    wRC+ wOBA WAR G PA R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS
    193 .455 7.3 148 652 103 193 26 1 44 137 3 90 94 .348 .442 .636 1.078

  • Shortstop – Alan Trammell, 1987

    • Alan Trammell
    wRC+ wOBA WAR G PA R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS
    152 .407 8.2 151 668 109 205 34 3 28 105 21 60 47 .343 .402 .551 .953

  • Outfield – Ty Cobb, 1917

    • Ty Cobb
    wRC+ wOBA WAR G PA R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS
    200 .480 11.3 152 672 107 225 44 24 6 106 55 61 34 .383 .444 .570 1.014

  • Outfield – Harry Heilmann, 1923

    • Harry Heilmann
    wRC+ wOBA WAR G PA R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS
    189 .503 9.3 144 627 121 211 44 11 18 115 9 74 40 .403 .481 .632 1.113

  • Outfield – Al Kaline, 1967

    • Al Kaline
    wRC+ wOBA WAR G PA R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS
    174 .418 7.5 131 550 94 141 28 2 25 78 8 83 47 .308 .411 .541 .952

  • Designated Hitter – Victor Martinez, 2014

    • Victor Martinez
    wRC+ wOBA WAR G PA R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS
    168 .411 5.5 151 641 87 188 33 0 32 103 3 70 42 .335 .409 .565 .974

  • Starting Pitcher – Hal Newhouser, 1945

    • Hal Newhouser
    ERA- WAR G GS W L ERA IP CG SHO SV R ER BB SO SO/9 WHIP
    52 11.2 40 36 25 9 1.81 313.1 29 8 2 73 63 110 212 6.1 1.114

  • Starting Pitcher – Justin Verlander, 2011

    • Justin Verlander
    ERA- WAR G GS W L ERA IP CG SHO SV R ER BB SO SO/9 WHIP
    58 8.4 34 34 24 5 2.40 251 4 2 0 73 67 57 250 9.0 0.920

  • Starting Pitcher – Mark Fidrych, 1976

    • Mark Fidrych
    ERA- WAR G GS W L ERA IP CG SHO SV R ER BB SO SO/9 WHIP
    63 9.6 31 29 19 9 2.34 250.1 24 4 0 76 65 53 97 3.5 1.079

  • Starting Pitcher – Dizzy Trout, 1944

    • Dizzy Trout
    ERA- WAR G GS W L ERA IP CG SHO SV R ER BB SO SO/9 WHIP
    59 9.6 49 40 27 14 2.12 352.1 33 7 0 104 83 83 144 3.7 1.127

  • Starting Pitcher – Denny McLain, 1968

    • Denny McLain
    ERA- WAR G GS W L ERA IP CG SHO SV R ER BB SO SO/9 WHIP
    64 7.4 41 41 31 6 1.96 336 28 6 0 86 73 63 280 7.5 0.905

  • Relief Pitcher – Joel Zumaya, 2006

    • Joel Zumaya
    ERA- WAR G GS W L ERA IP CG SHO SV R ER BB SO SO/9 WHIP
    43 3.2 62 0 6 3 1.94 83.1 0 0 1 20 18 42 97 10.5 1.176

  • Relief Pitcher – Doug Brocail, 1999

    • Doug Brocail
    ERA- WAR G GS W L ERA IP CG SHO SV R ER BB SO SO/9 WHIP
    51 3.1 70 0 4 4 2.52 82 0 0 2 23 23 25 78 8.6 1.037

  • Closer – John Hiller, 1973

    • John Hiller
    ERA- WAR G GS W L ERA IP CG SHO SV R ER BB SO SO/9 WHIP
    36 8.1 65 0 10 5 1.44 125.1 0 0 38 21 20 39 124 8.9 1.021

Bench

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