# 1970 Detroit Tigers season

The 1970 Detroit Tigers season was the team's 70th season and the 59th season at Tiger Stadium. The team finished fourth in the American League East with a record of 79–83, 29 games behind the Baltimore Orioles.

## Offseason

* December 13, 1969: Tom Matchick was traded by the Tigers to the Boston Red Sox for Dalton Jones.
* February 19, 1970: The Tigers' Cy Young Award winning pitcher, Denny McLain, was suspended from baseball "indefinitely" by MLB Commissioner Bowie Kuhn.
* April 1, 1970: Kuhn announced that McLain's suspension would last until July 1, 1970. McLain missed the first 71 games of the 162-game season.

## Regular season
### Season standings

vteAL East :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
| Baltimore Orioles | 108 | 54 | .667 | — | 59‍–‍22 | 49‍–‍32 |
| New York Yankees | 93 | 69 | .574 | 15 | 53‍–‍28 | 40‍–‍41 |
| Boston Red Sox | 87 | 75 | .537 | 21 | 52‍–‍29 | 35‍–‍46 |
| Detroit Tigers | 79 | 83 | .488 | 29 | 42‍–‍39 | 37‍–‍44 |
| Cleveland Indians | 76 | 86 | .469 | 32 | 43‍–‍38 | 33‍–‍48 |
| Washington Senators | 70 | 92 | .432 | 38 | 40‍–‍41 | 30‍–‍51 |

### Record vs. opponents

1970 American League recordvte Sources: :
| Team | BAL | BOS | CAL | CWS | CLE | DET | KC | MIL | MIN | NYY | OAK | WSH |
| Baltimore | — | 13–5 | 7–5 | 9–3 | 14–4 | 11–7 | 12–0 | 7–5 | 5–7 | 11–7 | 7–5 | 12–6 |
| Boston | 5–13 | — | 5–7 | 8–4 | 12–6 | 9–9 | 7–5 | 5–7 | 7–5 | 10–8 | 7–5 | 12–6 |
| California | 5–7 | 7–5 | — | 12–6 | 6–6 | 6–6 | 10–8 | 12–6 | 8–10 | 5–7 | 8–10 | 7–5 |
| Chicago | 3–9 | 4–8 | 6–12 | — | 6–6 | 6–6 | 7–11 | 7–11 | 6–12 | 5–7 | 2–16 | 4–8 |
| Cleveland | 4–14 | 6–12 | 6–6 | 6–6 | — | 7–11 | 8–4 | 7–5 | 6–6 | 8–10 | 7–5 | 11–7 |
| Detroit | 7–11 | 9–9 | 6–6 | 6–6 | 11–7 | — | 6–6 | 8–4 | 4–8 | 7–11 | 6–6 | 9–9 |
| Kansas City | 0–12 | 5–7 | 8–10 | 11–7 | 4–8 | 6–6 | — | 12–6 | 5–13 | 1–11 | 7–11 | 6–6 |
| Milwaukee | 5–7 | 7–5 | 6–12 | 11–7 | 5–7 | 4–8 | 6–12 | — | 5–13 | 3–9–1 | 8–10 | 5–7 |
| Minnesota | 7–5 | 5–7 | 10–8 | 12–6 | 6–6 | 8–4 | 13–5 | 13–5 | — | 5–7 | 13–5 | 6–6 |
| New York | 7–11 | 8–10 | 7–5 | 7–5 | 10–8 | 11–7 | 11–1 | 9–3–1 | 7–5 | — | 6–6 | 10–8 |
| Oakland | 5–7 | 5–7 | 10–8 | 16–2 | 5–7 | 6–6 | 11–7 | 10–8 | 5–13 | 6–6 | — | 10–2 |
| Washington | 6–12 | 6–12 | 5–7 | 8–4 | 7–11 | 9–9 | 6–6 | 7–5 | 6–6 | 8–10 | 2–10 | — |

### Notable transactions

* April 8, 1970: Tom Tresh was released by the Tigers.
* August 2, 1970: Kevin Collins was purchased by the Tigers from the Montreal Expos.

### Roster
## Player stats
### Batting
#### Starters by position

Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in
| Pos | Player | G | AB | H | Avg. | HR | RBI |
| C | Bill Freehan | 117 | 395 | 95 | .241 | 16 | 52 |
| 1B | Norm Cash | 130 | 370 | 96 | .259 | 15 | 53 |
| 2B | Dick McAuliffe | 146 | 530 | 124 | .234 | 12 | 50 |
| SS | César Gutiérrez | 135 | 415 | 101 | .243 | 0 | 22 |
| 3B | Don Wert | 128 | 363 | 79 | .218 | 6 | 33 |
| LF | Willie Horton | 96 | 371 | 113 | .305 | 17 | 69 |
| CF | Mickey Stanley | 142 | 568 | 143 | .252 | 13 | 47 |
| RF | Al Kaline | 131 | 467 | 130 | .278 | 16 | 71 |

#### Other batters

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 |
| Jim Northrup | 139 | 504 | 132 | .262 | 24 | 80 |
| Elliott Maddox | 109 | 258 | 64 | .248 | 3 | 24 |
| Dalton Jones | 89 | 191 | 42 | .220 | 6 | 21 |
| Jim Price | 52 | 132 | 24 | .182 | 5 | 15 |
| Gates Brown | 81 | 124 | 28 | .226 | 3 | 24 |
| Ike Brown | 56 | 94 | 27 | .287 | 4 | 15 |
| Ken Szotkiewicz | 47 | 84 | 9 | .107 | 3 | 9 |
| Gene Lamont | 15 | 44 | 13 | .295 | 1 | 4 |
| Russ Nagelson | 28 | 32 | 6 | .188 | 0 | 2 |
| Kevin Collins | 25 | 24 | 5 | .208 | 1 | 3 |
| Tim Hosley | 7 | 12 | 2 | .167 | 1 | 2 |

### Pitching
#### 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 |
| Mickey Lolich | 40 | 272.2 | 14 | 19 | 3.80 | 230 |
| Joe Niekro | 38 | 213.0 | 12 | 13 | 4.06 | 101 |
| Les Cain | 29 | 180.2 | 12 | 7 | 3.84 | 156 |
| Earl Wilson | 18 | 96.0 | 4 | 6 | 4.41 | 74 |
| Denny McLain | 14 | 91.1 | 3 | 5 | 4.63 | 52 |

#### 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 |
| Mike Kilkenny | 36 | 129.0 | 7 | 6 | 5.16 | 105 |
| Bob Reed | 16 | 46.1 | 2 | 4 | 4.86 | 26 |

#### Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
| Player | G | W | L | SV | ERA | SO |
| Tom Timmermann | 61 | 6 | 7 | 27 | 4.11 | 49 |
| Fred Scherman | 48 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 3.23 | 58 |
| John Hiller | 47 | 6 | 6 | 3 | 3.03 | 89 |
| Daryl Patterson | 43 | 7 | 1 | 2 | 4.85 | 55 |
| Norm McRae | 19 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2.87 | 16 |
| Fred Lasher | 12 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 5.00 | 8 |
| Jerry Robertson | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3.68 | 11 |
| Lerrin LaGrow | 10 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 7.30 | 7 |
| Dennis Saunders | 8 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3.21 | 8 |

## Farm system

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| AAA | Toledo Mud Hens | International League | Frank Carswell |
| AA | Montgomery Rebels | Southern League | Stubby Overmire |
| A | Rocky Mount Leafs | Carolina League | Max Lanier |
| A | Lakeland Tigers | Florida State League | Dick Tracewski |
| A-Short Season | Batavia Trojans | New York–Penn League | Joe Lewis |
| Rookie | Bristol Tigers | Appalachian League | Al Lakeman |