Tigers extend manager A.J. Hinch following ALDS defeat

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The Detroit Tigers extended the contract of A.J. Hinch, their manager for the past five seasons, the team announced Monday.

President of baseball operations Scott Harris confirmed the extension without disclosing terms at the club’s season-ending press conference, which followed Detroit’s elimination in the American League Division Series.

“We extended A.J. earlier in the year,” Harris said Monday. “I absolutely love working with A.J. I think he’s one of the best managers in the game. We have now proactively extended him twice because we want him to be here as long as he’s willing to be here, and I want to work with him as long as I can possibly work with him.”

Hinch is the fifth-longest tenured manager in the majors. He has led the Tigers to a .486 win percentage since being hired before the 2021 season, though the team posted a winning record and reached the divisional round in each of the past two years.

The Tigers exploded out of the gate but collapsed in the second half of 2025, blowing a lead atop the AL Central that was as large as 14 games in July and 10 games in early September. They traveled to defeat the Cleveland Guardians in the wild-card round before the Seattle Mariners edged them in 15 innings in the decisive fifth game of the ALCS.

Hinch, 51, previously managed the Houston Astros to the 2017 World Series championship and three consecutive 100-win seasons. Hinch was fired and served a year-long suspension in 2020 as part of the fallout from the Astros’ sign-stealing scandal.

“I’ve been in this chair for a long time, not just the managing chair in Detroit but across the league,” Hinch said Monday. “When you have an environment that both pushes and satisfies you, you want to be in it. And so, I was honored (to be offered an extension). I was thrilled.”

–Field Level Media