As we approach the final week of the regular season and the Tigers are 1.5 games out of a Wild Card spot (2.5 if you count the tiebreaker needed to knock off the Twins), it’s become pretty clear what their best offseason move was.

It wasn’t the signing of Jack Flaherty, who gave Detroit an incredible comeback season before he was traded to the Dodgers. It wasn’t the contract extension of Colt Keith before he had even hit a major league bat, even though he was in contention for AL Rookie of the Year. And it certainly wasn’t the signing of Kenta Maeda.

No, the Tigers’ best move was extending manager AJ Hinch’s contract at least through the 2026 season.

Hinch’s arrival in Detroit in 2021 caused some surprise, as he had just been suspended from baseball for a year for his role in the game-signing scandal as manager of the 2017 World Series-winning Astros. Although Hinch was not involved in or helped develop the system, anyone involved with the Astros that year will always struggle to emerge from the chaos that ensued.

Hinch’s first two years with the Tigers were more of the same, that is, mediocre or worse. But things looked brighter last season, when the Tigers finished with a losing record but still finished second in the AL Central, their best finish since 2016.

This year, the Tigers have gone from a team with a sub-.500 record by the end of August to a team that is seriously competing for a postseason spot in the final weeks of the season.

AJ Hinch becomes a real contender for AL Manager of the Year as the Tigers head toward the playoffs

The Tigers have already done much better than the Twins in August, and Detroit’s remaining depth suggests they have an easier road than Minnesota. Detroit’s young team is certainly playing like the postseason is in sight. They came from behind to win against the Royals on Monday and took two of three games against the mighty Orioles in Comerica.

Hinch has managed to bring all the young players and rookies under control and make them a competitive team, but perhaps his strongest argument is how the Tigers have handled a lack of starters over the last month. With the return of Casey Mize and Reese Olson, the Tigers’ rotation is mostly restored, but August — without Mize, Olson and with the trade of Flaherty — could have been devastating for a team that sent openers to the mound far more often than actual starters.

At the time, Hinch said the Tigers had a plan, which felt like a lie, but the opening-game success has actually proven him right. There could definitely be some luck involved, but it’s been going on for so long now that luck seems to be only a small part of it.

Even if the Tigers fall in the Wild Card round, it would be a miracle to even get there. To be as close as they are now is a miracle. Hinch has led the Tigers through a storm this season, and that shouldn’t be ignored when it comes time for the BBWAA vote in November.