Detroit Tigers: Three takeaways from Blue Jays series

The Detroit Tigers enter their second series of the season with a .500 record after splitting the opening series with the Toronto Blue Jays.

While most Detroit Tigers fans would love to see their team finish the season with a .500 record, the first series of the season didn’t go quite as expected.

The ups and downs of the rebuild were evident against the Blue Jays, who are in a rebuild of their own. But, as the Tigers face the New York Yankees in their next three games, the weaknesses could become more pronounced.

The Tigers finished their Spring Training series with a .500 record, with a 15-15 record. They tied with the Atlanta Braves, Pittsburgh Pirates, and Philadelphia Phillies. The Yankees won the Grapefruit League with a 17-10 record.

There were plenty of highlights to the Tigers Spring Training games, including Miguel Cabrera‘s five home runs, defeating the Blue Jays 18-6, and Daz Cameron‘s performance at the plate and in the field. Unfortunately, these highlights did not transfer in the move north.

Now that every team has completed at least one series, the Tigers are in the same place they were in the Grapefruit League – in the middle of the AL Central. As they travel to New York, they’ll face a Yankees team that has a record of 1-2, losing two games to the Baltimore Orioles – which is pretty much a Triple-A team at this point. (Can you name any of the current Orioles players?)

Of the three teams that the Tigers tied with in Spring Training, their first series results were mixed. The Braves are 0-3, the Pirates are 1-1, and the Phillies have yet to lose a regular-season game – after routing the Braves.

As we move into the second series, what were three big takeaways from the regular season Tigers?