2004 Detroit Tigers season

The 2004 Detroit Tigers season was the team's 104th season and its fifth at Comerica Park. It involved the Detroit Tigers attempting to win the American League Central. The team set a major league record with 11 players on the team hitting at least 10 home runs. The Tigers' 104th season ended with the team finishing in fourth place at 72–90, 29 games better than their disastrous season of the previous year. However, they were still 20 games behind the AL Central Champion Minnesota Twins.
The Tigers tied their own major league record for most home runs by a losing team when they hit seven homers in an 11–9 defeat to the Boston Red Sox on August 8.

Offseason

December 18, 2003: Al Levine was signed as a free agent with the Detroit Tigers.
December 19, 2003: Rondell White was signed as a free agent with the Detroit Tigers.
January 8, 2004 Acquired Carlos Guillén for Ramon Santiago and minor leaguer Juan Gonazalez.
January 14, 2004: Bobby Estalella was signed as a free agent with the Detroit Tigers.
February 6, 2004: Iván Rodríguez signed as a free agent with the Detroit Tigers.
February 9, 2004: Bobby Estalella was released by the Detroit Tigers.
March 29, 2004: Ugueth Urbina was signed as a free agent with the Detroit Tigers.

Regular season

Notable transactions

June 7, 2004: Justin Verlander was drafted by the Detroit Tigers in the 1st round of the 2004 amateur draft. Player signed October 25, 2004.

Player stats

Batting

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Player	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
Iván Rodríguez	135	527	176	.334	19	86
Carlos Guillén	136	522	166	.318	20	97
Omar Infante	142	503	133	.264	16	55
Carlos Peña	142	481	116	.241	27	82
Rondell White	121	448	121	.270	19	67
Bobby Higginson	131	448	110	.246	12	64
Craig Monroe	128	447	131	.293	18	72
Brandon Inge	131	408	117	.287	13	64
Dmitri Young	104	389	106	.272	18	60
Alex Sánchez	79	332	107	.322	2	26
Eric Munson	109	321	68	.212	19	49
Marcus Thames	61	165	42	.255	10	33
Jason Smith	61	155	37	.239	5	19
Nook Logan	47	133	37	.278	0	10
Fernando Viña	29	115	26	.226	0	7
Greg Norton	41	86	15	.174	2	2
Chris Shelton	27	46	9	.196	1	3
Ryan Raburn	12	29	4	.138	0	1
Curtis Granderson	9	25	6	.240	0	0
Mike DiFelice	13	22	3	.136	0	2
Andrés Torres	3	0	0	----	0	0
Pitcher Totals	162	21	1	.048	0	1
Team Totals	162	5623	1531	.272	201	800

Starting pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
Mike Maroth	33	217.0	11	13	4.31	108
Nate Robertson	34	196.2	12	10	4.90	155
Jason Johnson	33	196.2	8	15	5.13	125
Jeremy Bonderman	33	184.0	11	13	4.89	168
Gary Knotts	36	135.1	7	6	5.25	81
Nate Cornejo	5	25.2	1	3	8.42	12

Other pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
Wilfredo Ledezma	15	53.1	4	3	4.39	29

Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	IP	W	L	SV	ERA	SO
Ugueth Urbina	54	54.0	4	6	21	4.50	56
Esteban Yan	69	87.0	3	6	7	3.83	69
Al Levine	65	70.2	3	4	0	4.58	32
Jamie Walker	70	64.2	3	4	1	3.20	53
Danny Patterson	37	41.2	0	4	2	4.75	24
Steve Colyer	41	32.0	1	0	0	6.47	31
Craig Dingman	24	29.1	2	2	0	6.75	16
Roberto Novoa	16	21.0	1	1	0	5.57	15
John Ennis	12	16.0	0	0	1	8.44	13
Franklyn Germán	16	14.2	1	0	0	7.36	8
Lino Urdaneta	1	0.0	0	0	0	inf	0
Team Pitching Totals	162	1439.2	72	90	35	4.93	995'

Farm system

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: West Michigan