Trivia Questions from SABR Day 2025

1. After the games of September 15 were played, with two weeks left in the season, what were Detroit’s chances of making the playoffs according to FanGraphs?
a. 6% b. 10% c. 13% d. 17%

2. Good for a Wild Card berth, the Tigers 86 wins tied them for __th place in MLB.
a. 8th b. 10th c. 12th d. 13th

3. How many of the Tigers’ 14 regulars last season [the player who played the most at each position plus the top four starting pitchers and the closer, as defined by Baseball Reference] were homegrown?
a. 12 b. 10 c. 7 d. 5

4. What was the combined WAR of Riley Greene, the Tigers’ top hitter, and Tarik Skubal, the AL’s best pitcher, last season?
a. 21.1 b. 15.5 c. 11.7 d. 9.9

5. Prior to the glorious 2024 season, Tigers manager A.J. Hinch had managed all or parts of 10 seasons in MLB. How many of his five non-Houston teams had a winning record? a. 0 b. 1 c. 3 d. 4

6. The Tigers have had 36 managers in their 124 seasons; how many were primarily catchers in their playing days like Hinch?
a. 7 b. 10 c. 14 d. 18

7. Detroit’s vaunted pitcher staff posted a 3.61 ERA in 2024, ranking second in the AL to Seattle’s 3.49. The Tigers also finished in the top three in the AL in most other important pitching categories, including Runs Allowed per Game, ERA+, FIP, WHIP, HR/9, BB/9, and K/W. What was one category where Detroit’s staff was slightly below league average? a. Saves (45) b. H/9 (7.9) c. K/9 (8.4) d. HR allowed (159)

8. Fifteen pitchers started a game for Detroit in ’24; how many complete games did the Tigers’ staff throw?
a. 3 b. 2 c. 1 d. 0

9. The Tigers played 14 games in 2024 that ended with a walkoff. How many of those games did Detroit win?
a. 12 of 14 b. 10 of 14 c. 8 of 14 d. 6 of 14

10. Detroit, of course, beat the pulp out of the hapless White Sox in 2024, winning 10 of 13 games. How many of the other three AL Central teams did the Tigers post a winning record against last year?
a. All three b. Two teams c. One team d. None

11. BONUS: What was the lowest attendance for any Tigers home game in 2024? a. 2,532 b. 10,259 c. 17,111 d. 22,770

Answers below:

1. B. Just 10%! A day later, they had jumped to 18%; two days later they were at 21%, and the
rest is history.

2. C. Tied for 12th place: seven NL clubs won 89 or more games, plus four AL clubs won 91 or
more games.

3. C. Seven of the 14 Tigers’ starters were “born and raised in South Detroit”. Torkelson, Keith,
Greene, Meadows, and Perez were all originally drafted or signed as an amateur by the
Tigers. Rogers and Malloy were acquired in trades; Baez and Urshela were free-agent
signees. Of Detroit’s five ‘regular’ pitchers, Skubal was drafted by and Foley was signed as
an undrafted amateur free agent by the Tigers. Olson was acquired by trade and Flaherty
and Maeda were signed as free agents.

4. C. Greene with 5.4 WAR and Skubal with 6.3 combined for 11.7 WAR.

5. A. Hinch’s Astros finished with winning records all five years he was in Houston, but in his
two years with Arizona and his previous three years with Detroit, none of his clubs finished
above .500.

6. C. Of the 36 men who have managed wearing the Old English ‘D’ since 1901, 14 (including
Hinch) were catchers when they played. Three were pitchers; five were outfielders; 14 were
infielders. Note: Not including managers with less than 10 games in the dugout with Detroit.

7. C. K/9, where the AL best was 9.4 and average was 8.6, with the Tigers at 8.4. Tigers pitchers
were tied for 4th in Saves, 5th in H/9, and were 2nd in HR allowed,.

8. C. One, a three-hit shutout by rookie Keider Montero against the Rockies on Sept. 10.
Montero who tied for the AL-lead with four other hurlers in this vanishing stat. Detroit
hurlers turned in 10 combined shutouts, however.

9. D. Detroit won six games by walkoff, losing eight the same way.

10. D. The Tigers had identical 6-7 records against the Guardians, the Twins, and the Royals-
although Detroit outscored Cleveland 60-50 in their 13 games.

11. Trick question! A. The Tigers were the ‘home’ team on August 18 when they played the
Yankees in the Little League Classic in Williamsport, PA. Attendance at tiny Journey Bank
Park in the small central Pennsylvania city was 2,532.

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