He has saved the season more than once here lately. And though Javier Báez isn’t the only member of the Detroit Tigers to do so, he’s certainly the most unlikely, at least if we consider where the shortstop was a year ago.

Or even this spring.

Baez will tell you that he wasn’t sure he’d even be on the team this season when he got to spring training. Nor was he confident in how he'd perform after hip surgery in August 2024.

Here was a 32-year-old former All-Star, a defensive wizard with power plate who had arrived in Detroit three years earlier after signing a six-year, $140 million contract in December 2021 ... and then played nowhere near the expectations created by that money. SCOUTING THE ALDS: Tigers-Mariners MLB playoff series scouting report: Who has better player in ALDS?

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