Detroit Tigers seek 'competitive rivalry' with Chicago White Sox for AL Central

Detroit Tigers right-hander Casey Mize, the second starting pitcher in the five-man rotation, received an inquiry a couple weeks ago from Kan Ikeda.

Ikeda, the team's advance scouting manager, wanted to know when Mize would be ready to study the Chicago White Sox, the Tigers' opponent for Opening Day on Friday and a three-game series through Sunday.

"The day after my last start, go ahead and put the pack in my locker," Mize told Ikeda during spring training, "and I'll get to work on them."

The time is now for the Tigers to face the White Sox, jumpstarting the 2022 season and what could be an intense race for the American League Central crown. That's how the Tigers envision the season unfolding.

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Left-hander Eduardo Rodriguez, who signed a five-year, $77 million contract, started Opening Day against Lucas Giolito, though he didn't get the decision in a walk-off 5-4 Tigers victory.

Mize gets Saturday's matchup against Dylan Cease, and lefty Tarik Skubal is lined up for Sunday's series finale against Michael Kopech.

"I know what happened at the end of the year last year, but I think that's kind of put to bed," Skubal said. "But they are the people that we need to beat a lot to win our division, and that's the goal: To win our division. I think there's going to be that competitive rivalry, in the sense that we both want to win every time we're playing each other."

The Tigers and White Sox had a benches clearing standoff Sept. 27, sparked by Tigers reliever Alex Lange hitting White Sox slugger Jose Abreu in the elbow with an 0-2 fastball in the ninth inning. On the next pitch, Abreu slid hard into second base on a stolen-base attempt. Both teams stormed the field.

It felt like a rivalry brewing.

This year could be the tipping point.

"I think the rivalry is because they're the defending champs," Tigers manager AJ Hinch said, "and they've been sort of the best in class, the last few years a playoff team. And I think we're getting better. The expectation to win internally has grown. That creates rivalry. The winning creates rivalry more than anything. They're the team in first place, so if you're not rivals with them, what are you doing?"

The Tigers have a 14-33 record against the White Sox in the past three years. Chicago won the AL Central in 2021 for the first time since 2008, with a surplus of power hitting and reliable pitching, and have reached the postseason in back-to-back seasons.

"We can compete with anybody, and we're ready to roll," Tigers third baseman Jeimer Candelario said. "They got a good team; we got a good team. We got to compete, and whoever plays the best that day is going to win."

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The Tigers won seven of 19 games against the White Sox last season, taking four of nine at Comerica Park and three of 10 at Guaranteed Rate Field. They're slated for another 19 games in 2022.

"I think there's natural rivalries when teams are good," Hinch said. "I had Houston and Texas (in the AL West). The rivalry is because both of us were good. We both made the playoffs in '15, they won the division, we won the wild card. That creates the rivalry. I'm sure there's some regional pride in various areas of the country, but usually the rivalries come from long-standing traditions and competitiveness."

Along with Rodriguez, the Tigers rolled out several newcomers in Friday's game: shortstop Javier Baez, left fielder Austin Meadows, catcher Tucker Barnhart and first baseman Spencer Torkelson.

The Opening Day lineup: Robbie Grossman (RF), Austin Meadows (LF), Javier Baez (SS), Jeimer Candelario (3B), Miguel Cabrera (DH), Jonathan Schoop (2B), Akil Baddoo (CF), Spencer Torkelson (1B) and Tucker Barnhart (C).

"I don't know if they're going to win (the AL Central) because we're going to give everything we have to beat them," Baez said of the White Sox. "To me and my team now, it doesn't matter who we play. They got to play us. It doesn't matter who's pitching. They got to pitch to us. We just got to get that trust."

Torkelson, the No. 1 overall pick in 2020, is expected to gradually move up in the batting order based on his performance. He is making his MLB debut, after hitting 30 home runs in the minor leagues last season.

"I think Tork is really for this level on a lot of levels," Hinch said. "I think he's ready emotionally. He's ready physically. He doesn't have to carry us, he just has to be really good. I'm hitting him down in the order for a reason. It's just to get his feet wet."

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The White Sox will be without shortstop Tim Anderson until Sunday, as he serves a suspension for making contact with umpire Tim Timmons in last year's scuffle with the Tigers at Comerica Park.

"Tim is a great player, no doubt about it," Mize said. "I'm not sad he's missing the first two, but I'll see him many more times after that."

Skubal gets to face Anderson in Game 3.

Anderson is a .342 hitter with 12 home runs in 91 career games against the Tigers, including a .389 batting average in 17 games last season.

"We're going to face him a lot more than just two games," Skubal said. "He's a great player. I'm excited for that challenge."

Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him on Twitter @EvanPetzold. Read more on the Detroit Tigers and sign up for our Tigers newsletter.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Tigers seek 'competitive rivalry' with Chicago White Sox