Detroit Tigers We are approaching a crossroads heading into the offseason, which coincides with the final month of the season, one of the most exciting months in the franchise’s history.

Detroit, which played 9.5 games at the end of August, has become the hottest team in baseball lately and made it to the postseason, even beating the team. Houston Astros In the Wild Card round before the epic run in the ALCS ends cleveland. Now heading into the offseason, the Tigers do so knowing their rebuild is starting to pay off and they are not as far from title contention as they previously seemed.

To create a true contender, tough decisions will need to be made by the front office about where to allocate resources and when to cut the bait on existing players who have become less valuable than their contracts indicate. One of those played was the 2018 No. 1 overall pick in the MLB Draft and the former Detroit top prospect. Casey Mize. The right-handed pitcher will have a team option on his table. Scott Harris will give him a much higher salary this winter than now, and Emma Lingan of Motor City Bengals he doesn’t see the team deciding to acquire him, opting instead to let him become a free agent.

“If the past few months have been any indication, it seems likely that the Tigers will actually decline Mize’s $3.1 million option and cut ties with their former top prospect,” Lingan wrote. “In Detroit’s magical second-half surge, Mize played only a supporting role at best, so it seems unlikely the Tigers will be inclined to more than triple his salary for next season.”

Mize has dealt with some bad injury luck throughout his career and has made just 22 appearances this season; those appearances didn’t inspire confidence that he could be the star the Tigers hoped to achieve when they drafted him No. 1 overall.

Interesting young options are ready and willing already with higher-level branches within the organization Available at free agencyDetroit can certainly do better than Mize, who has a key role in 2025 for a team hoping to take the next step.