Although it’s been a rough run in recent years, Detroit Tigers fans have had the joy of watching some all-time great players pass through their team over the past decade or two.
When measured up against other franchises, it seems likely that the Tigers have housed more future Hall of Famers in recent years than any other organization in baseball.
In this article, we’ll be ranking three current MLB players—all of which were Tigers at one point in time (or still are)—who will be inducted into the Hall of Fame once they retire.
It’s worth noting that the margins separating the order of these rankings are razor-thin.
Here we go.
3. Max Scherzer
Max Scherzer spent five seasons as a Tiger from 2010-2014.
His entire MLB career has been historically great, and Detroit was where he first made a name for himself.
Scherzer is a seven-time All-Star and a three-time Cy Young Award winner.
He finished in the top-five of the Cy Young race for seven consecutive seasons from 2013-2019.
Scherzer has a career 3.19 ERA and a 2.84 ERA since 2013.
Translation: He has gotten better with age.
Scherzer has led the league in wins four times, WHIP four times, strikeout-to-walk ratio four times, and total strikeouts three times.
He has a career 61.7 WAR and is well on his way to the Hall of Fame.
It’s hard to imagine that’s on his mind right now, though, because he seems to have plenty left in the tank.
There are only 22 pitchers in @MLB history with more career strikeouts than Max Scherzer.
17 of them are in the Hall of Fame.@MLBStats // #NATITUDE pic.twitter.com/LUdkkPGxDn
— Washington Nationals (@Nationals) September 20, 2020
2. Justin Verlander
Justin Verlander is no longer a Tiger, but he’s still dominating in his age-37 season.
The lifelong ace has led the league in strikeouts five times, WHIP four times, wins three times, and ERA once.
He has a career 3.33 ERA, 3.41 FIP, and 1.13 WHIP.
He is also an eight-time All-Star, a two-time Cy Young Award winner, and a one-time MVP.
Verlander has finished in the top-five of Cy Young voting five times.
Put simply, he’s one of the greatest pitchers of this generation.
Verlander has a career 72.3 WAR which will put him into the Hall of Fame with no questions asked.
1. Miguel Cabrera
Miguel Cabrera‘s time will come in Cooperstown, and it will almost certainly happen on the first ballot.
Cabrera is a shell of his younger self at this point in his career, but that does not diminish anything that he’s accomplished.
The Tigers legend is a career .311 hitter with a .925 OPS.
He is nine home runs shy of reaching the 500-homer milestone, a mark that he could potentially hit later this season.
Cabrera has won four batting titles, two home run titles, two RBI titles, is an 11-time All-Star, a two-time MV,P and a nine-time top-10 MVP finisher.
Cabrera’s two MVP seasons came in 2012 and 2013, and they were two of the best hitting campaigns in MLB history.
In 2012, Cabrera won the Triple Crown, leading the league in batting (.330), home runs (44), and RBI (139).
In 2013, Cabrera was arguably even better, leading the league in batting (.348), on-base (.442), slugging (.636), OPS (1.078), and OPS+ (190).
Cabrera posted four straight 6.5+ WAR seasons from 2010-2013 and has accumulated 68.5 WAR throughout his 19-year career.
The top 10 active players on @billjamesonline Hall of Fame leaderboard:
Albert Pujols 876.6
Miguel Cabrera 670.6
Robinson Cano 613.8
Ichiro Suzuki 561.2
Joey Votto 533.2
Mike Trout 523.2
Yadier Molina 499.9
CC Sabathia 489.8
Ian Kinsler 475.2
Justin Verlander 467.6— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) January 23, 2019
We need to appreciate Miggy before he calls it quits on a legendary career.
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