The Detroit Tigers had their ace on the mound Monday in San Diego.

Not that ace — Tarik Skubal won’t toe the slab in California until Friday against the Athletics in Oakland.

No, we’re talking about the six-headed, 12-armed juggernaut that manager A.J. Hinch has sent to the mound two dozen times this season: The Opener.

The Opener — aka TyBeauAlBrenJoeMason HolBriFaeEngWentifee, or just “TBD,” as his friends call him — has begun games with stints of three innings or less a whopping 24 times this season, albeit only one pitcher at a time. (Those dang MLB rules!)

His win-loss record is a bit shaky — actually, he’s winless in those 24 appearances, though the Tigers have gone 10-14 in them. But since the start of August, the Tigers have gone 7-7 when The Opener hits the rubber — not necessarily winning baseball, but enough to avoid backsliding on the days Skubal can’t go.

Unfortunately, The Opener’s time appears to be drawing to a close, as the return of Casey Mize at the end of last month and the impending return of Reese Olson this month, plus recent promotions for prospects Ty Madden and Brant Hurter, means the Tigers could — just maybe — return to a five-man rotation sometime before the end of the season.

Hello, and welcome to the Open and Shut Newsletter!

MUST-READ: Chet Lemon's return to Detroit revealed love that still holds together '84 Tigers

Really, The Opener — consisting over the past few months of Beau Brieske, Mason Englert, Alex Faedo, Brendan Hanifee, Joey Wentz and, of course, Monday’s actual starter, Tyler Holton — will never disappear from the Tigers’ rotation. But his time might be dwindling to just one appearance a week, after a few weeks of three (and even four) appearances for the Tigers.

And so, in memory of The Opener — long may he keep us and opposing managers guessing! — here are a few key numbers from the Tigers’ summer-long experiment with The Opener:

Taking the lead: The Tigers’ 24 appearances by an opener is far and away the most in the majors this season. How far? No other franchise even has 20. (The NL leader appears to be the San Francisco Giants, with 16, give or take.) The Tampa Bay Rays, who popularized the system back in 2018 with a whopping 67 uses of an opener, have just 11 this season. Meanwhile, Brieske’s turn as The Opener on Sunday set the Tigers’ franchise record for appearances by openers, passing 2023’s 22.

An era of ERA: Admittedly, the Tigers’ 10-14 record is less than impressive in The Opener’s starts. But ol’ “TBD Terrific,” as we like to call him, has posted a 3.12 ERA in 40 1/3 innings. That would be good enough for sixth among AL starters if he had enough innings (approximately 139 through Monday) and 10^th among all AL starters with at least 40 innings pitched, right behind All-Stars Tanner Houck and Seth Lugo (both at 3.12 as well) and just ahead of All-Star Corbin Burnes 3.19).

Ty one on: Holton has done yeoman’s work in the role (along with every other role this season), with just one run allowed in his seven starts, covering 14 innings (including two Monday). That run with a 0.64 ERA has included 10 strikeouts and just two walks, with a 0.857 WHIP that would be tops among AL starters if he, too, had anywhere near enough innings to qualify for the leaderboard.

Undercooked Brieske: On the other end, there’s Brieske, who’s No. 2 in the group with six opener appearances covering 11⅓ innings … but a 6.35 ERA in them. His 13 strikeouts? Good. The seven walks and 15 hits allowed? Not so much. Then again, maybe the start of the game just isn’t his bag: Brieske has a 9.39 ERA in the first inning — and no runs allowed in the second, third and sixth innings (plus a tidy 1.69 ERA in the seventh).

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Summer of Skub

And then there’s the Tigers’ true ace, whose gem on Saturday night — his first time finishing eight innings in 102 big-league appearances — not only solidified his stranglehold on the AL Cy Young award this season, it signaled his potential entrance into one of baseball’s most exclusive clubs, as he took over the major-league lead in ERA (2.51), strikeouts (201) and wins (16). That’s better known as the pitching Triple Crown and, as the Freep’s Evan Petzold noted, just two pitchers in nearly 60 seasons — since Sandy Koufax did it in back-to-back seasons — have led both leagues in ERA, strikeouts and wins.

Feel the Juice

Saturday’s game was notable for another reason: It was the celebration of the Tigers’ 1984 World Series title, with nearly two dozen members of that team on hand. Some of those Tigers have had a tougher post-playing career than others, such as outfielder Chet Lemon. The three-time All-Star wasn’t a lock to make the celebration, as the Freep’s Jeff Seidel discovered, because of a series of strokes that have robbed Lemon of much of his mobility and ability to speak. And yet, make it he did, and Our Man Seidel (along with Our Man Junfu Han) was there to witness the love that still runs through the ’84 squad, including emotional reunions between Lemon and Alan Trammell and Lou Whitaker. (Fair warning: It might get a bit dusty in the room where you read these pieces. And that’s OK.)

Men in the middle

Those ’84 Tigers were stacked up the middle, with Lemon, Tram and Sweet Lou — it’s a strength the 2024 and 2025 Tigers would like to repeat, with center fielder Parker Meadows, second baseman Colt Keith and shortstop … uh, who’s at short? (No, Who’s on first, What’s on second …) Abbott and Costello tributes aside, the Tigers don’t entirely know who’ll be starting at shortstop next spring, as veteran Javier Báez — he of the $120 million contract and sub-.600 OPS —is set to undergo hip surgery with an unknown recovery timeline, Our Man Petzold reported last week. Báez could be ready late in spring training, or he could miss much of the 2025 season. In the meantime, rookie Trey Sweeney — who was a Yankees prospect, then a Dodgers prospect, then a Tigers prospect, all in the span of a single year — is holding down the spot for now. His bat needs some work — though his .519 OPS is doing a good impression of Báez’s .516 — but his glove is definitely MLB-ready, according to Our Man Petzold.

Playoffs?

With just 23 games remaining this season, it’s time to start thinking about 2025 … but first, OK, maybe the playoffs, as the Tigers entered Tuesday just five games out of the AL’s final wild-card spot (now occupied by the Royals, thanks to a six-game losing streak). Can the Tigers pull off a legendary September surge? Or even just stay above .500 for the first time since 2016. No matter what happens, Our Man Seidel opined, these games are building experience for the future in what’s now one of MLB’s youngest rosters.

Mark your calendar

As the Tigers ponder the beginning of a new era, it’s the end of another era in California. They continue their California road trip with two more games  (Wednesday and Thursday) in San Diego, then head north for the franchise’s final visit to Oakland. The Athletics are set to move to Sacramento next season for, uh, a few seasons until their new stadium in Las Vegas is ready. (They’re hoping to get construction on the Strip approved by December, which makes a 2028 opening quite the race.) Not that the Tigers will miss Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum — or whatever you call it — as Detroit is 122-161 there (a .431 winning percentage that’s still better than the Lions’ .333 mark in six visits), including a 5-5 mark in the postseason. (Remember the postseason?)

Happy birthday, Brant!

The Coliseum was already 32 when Brant Hurter was born, back in 1998. The Tigers lefty turns 26 on Friday; the rookie has been the beneficiary of an opener in five of his six appearances, posting a 3.18 ERA, 22 strikeouts and just one walk over 22⅔ innings out of the bullpen. (His lone start, back on Aug. 27, wasn’t too bad either, as he held the Angels to two runs over five innings for his second career big-league victory.)

Other Tigers birthdays this week: Kerry Carpenter (27 on Monday), Nate Robertson (47 on Tuesday), Luis Gonzalez (57 on Tuesday), Doyle Alexander (74 on Wednesday).

3 to watch

Y’know, there are hitters in this organization, too:

JUSTYN-HENRY MALLOY: The DH/LF is back in the bigs with the September roster expansion, after posting a .755 OPS in a 10-game Triple-A stint.

WENCEEL PÉREZ: The switch-hitting outfielder is healing, but he may not be a switch-hitter when he comes off the injured list.

SPENCER TORKELSON: Tork is back? A .920 OPS in 16 games is good. 22 strikeouts in 59 at-bats, less so.

TL;DR

We’ll close with this — the Tigers’ franchise record for most starts of three innings or less in a season is still out there; the 2024 Tigers have 31 — that’s including seven by starters who were injured or ineffective — which is one fewer than the 1937 Tigers (who went 89-65 while finishing second in an eight-team AL, two years removed from a World Series title). We’re pretty sure they weren’t using openers at all, as every one of those starters allowed at least two earned runs and, as a group, they posted an 18.64 ERA.

And you thought Kenta Maeda had issues as a starter.

Contact Ryan Ford at rford@freepress.com. Follow him on X (which used to be Twitter, y’know?) @theford.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Tigers Newsletter: One Opener away from franchise history