At 39, Miguel Cabrera trying to will Tigers back to life

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Miguel Cabrera isn’t what he was, and the Tigers aren’t what they can be. But a blast from the past this weekend — two of them, actually — salvaged some of the present at Comerica Park. Under the bright lights Friday and blue skies Saturday and Sunday, the Tigers’ oldest player and youngest soul led them to a much-needed sweep of the Orioles.

Miggy has always played the game like a kid, because that’s who he is. (And because that's what his mother once told him to do.) He’s producing like one again this month. The pop in his bat is back, like the irrepressible perk in his step.

"To me, the thing that's so damn cool about it is how long he’s played and how well he’s played and how much fun he genuinely has on a daily basis," Tigers catcher Tucker Barnhart said after Cabrera knocked two more hits and drove in two more runs in Sunday's 5-1 win. "It’s refreshing to see a guy that has done so much in his career still enjoy it as much as he does. It’s reinvigorating, really."

Against the script, Cabrera is reinvigorating the Tigers. It was supposed to be the other way around this season, when a team full of young talent would give its aging slugger a boost. But the only bat in Detroit warming up with the weather is Miggy's. In the twilight of his career, he's trying to stop the sun from setting on the Tigers in May.

This team trudged through the first month of the season. Its offense was colder than it was last season when the Tigers started 9-24. Detroit was 9-23 entering play Friday, worst in the AL. It went 3-0 this weekend thanks in large part to Cabrera, who’s hitting .347 with a .969 OPS this month. The rest of the Tigers’ offense, over the same span, is hitting .202 with a .538 OPS.

"Clearly he’s been a spark for us," A.J. Hinch said Sunday. "He’s swinging the bat well. He’s swinging at strikes, he’s getting in good counts, he’s driving the ball, he’s using the pull side now a little bit more where he’s hunting pitches. And obviously the ball out of the ballparks helps."

In Detroit, the ball has stayed in the ballpark. At one point Friday night, Aaron Judge of the Yankees moved into a tie with the entire Tigers offense for home runs. Cabrera promptly broke it with a solo shot in the sixth on a liner to left center to push the Tigers’ lead to 2-0. He had given them the lead with a double in the third on a liner to right center. His two RBI in the three hole were the difference in a 4-2 Tigers win.

Cabrera began the season in his lowest spot in the Tigers’ lineup in 14 years. Hitting fifth on Opening Day, he delivered a game-tying single off White Sox All-Star closer Liam Hendricks to set the stage for a walk-off win. As injuries and struggles mounted in the Tigers' lineup, Cabrera moved his way back up the order. He was hitting cleanup on Sunday when he hammered a fastball 400-plus feet into the Orioles' bullpen to put Detroit in front in the second. An inning later, he delivered a sacrifice fly to extend the lead to three.

Tarik Skubal -- zero runs, 11 strikeouts in six innings -- would take care of the rest. When Cabrera lined another hit into right center on another high heater in the 8th, this one 95 mph and in on the hands, he took his turn at first and clapped twice toward the Tigers dugout, a veteran leading the way, a hitter feeling at at the plate.

The morning of Opening Day, Hinch talked about his decision to drop Cabrera in the order. The 11-time All-Star could have made it an issue. He could have taken it personally and slunk into the season. He would have sunk clubhouse morale in the process. But the future Hall of Famer took it in stride, wanting what was best for the team.

"He wants to be a mentor to a lot of different people and he's been all-in from the very beginning," Hinch said at the time. "He just wants to feel success again. There's an adjustment for him that he doesn't have to be the total center of attention. But we still need a productive Miguel Cabrera to complete our lineup."

Several weeks later, Cabrera is batting .297 with a .767 OPS. Among Detroit's qualified hitters, those are both team highs. He also leads the Tigers in hits, RBI and is tied for the lead in homers. This says as much about a limping lineup as Cabrera, but we digress. He has four three-hit games this season. Only 14 other big-league players can say the same, and they have an average age of about 28. Cabrera turned 39 last month.

"He’s arguably the greatest right-handed hitter of all time. He rolls out of bed and can hit and he’ll be able to hit forever," said Barnhart. "So it doesn’t surprise me whatsoever."

He's not what he was and they're not what they can be. The Tigers have a long way to go to undo the damage of the last month. But they were better this weekend because Cabrera was as good as ever, a legend who looked young. If Miggy isn't done, maybe neither is this team. Maybe there's a baseball season still worth watching in Detroit.

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