DETROIT, Mich. (Michigan News Source)- Detroit will start their new era of baseball on Wednesday as the 2023 season starts in Florida. The Tigers travel to Tampa Bay for a 3:10 p.m. start.

Matthew Boyd, who pitched for the Tigers from 2015-2021, signed a one-year deal with Detroit and comments, “We’re being sold short by a lot of people. A lot of people don’t believe in us. A lot of people don’t believe what we can do. That’s fine. They’re entitled to their opinion. We know where we stand, and let’s go show everybody else otherwise.”

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Detroit is coming off a 96-loss season and lost 23 of their last 32 games last year. In the off season, the organization restructured. In late September 2022, Scott Harris was hired as the new President of Baseball Operations after three seasons with the San Francisco Giants. The 35-year old also spent seven years with the Chicago Cubs.

Left hander Eduardo Rodriguez receives his second opening day start as last year he went four innings in the loss to the Chicago White Sox. He was 5-5 last year with a 4.05 ERA and 72 strikeouts. Detroit is hoping that his from his six years at Boston come out this season as he had five seasons with 100+ strikeouts recording 213 in 2019. He saw limited time last season due to injuries.

He says, “I’m going to do my job, throw the ball where I want, and enjoy it and play the game. I never think I need to do this or that, we need this game. I just think I’m doing my job.”

Detroit starts the season with a six-game road trip playing Tampa Bay on March 30 and April 1-2 and then heading to Houston for a three-game series from April 3-5.