Future MLB Hall Of Famer Sets Final Mission In Last Dance With Tigers

Throughout his career, Miguel Cabrera has played for only two MLB teams in his record-setting 21 years of playing in the majors.

The one-time World Series champion revealed plans to retire after the 2023 MLB season, capping a run that also includes two AL MVP awards and making it to the All-Star team 12 times.

Aside from that, the 39-year-old also holds the honor of being the first American League batter to win the Triple Crown since 1967, accomplishing the feat in 2012.

But like most athletes, Cabrera has had his rough patches of dealing with injuries. This raised questions on how long he would be playing the game and whether the coming MLB season will be his last hurrah.

During a charity gala, the long-time Detroit Tiger told reporters his main goal heading into the final MLB season of his career.

His mission was not lofty and simple–to stay healthy.

"One of my goals is to play a full season with no injuries, try to help the Tigers to win more games," the Venezuelan said in a report by MLB.com. "Because I feel if we can stay healthy, we can improve more in the field. If you don't stay healthy, there's no chance we can win. We had a lot of injuries this year and it hurt us a lot. We'll see if we can stay healthy all year."

Although their 2022 MLB season was not exactly a great one, Cabrera had his share of recognition. That included his historic 3000th hit, done in front of a raucous Comerica Park crowd in April against the Colorado Rockies.

The Tigers finished the 2022 season with a 66-96 record, a bit of a disappointment considering there were high expectations for the Tigers.

Part of this was the addition of players such as Javier Baez, Austin Meadows and Eduardo Rodriguez.

Unfortunately, the addition of these MLB names did not work out.

More so, injuries to key players in the Tigers' rotation also told heavily in their previous MLB campaign.

Once his final game comes around, a personality who will have to find a suitable replacement for Cabrera will be Scott Harris.

Harris replaced Al Avila as president of baseball operations in September and will be tasked to find someone who can fill in the void of the future Hall of Famer.