The games, for now, have ceased at Lakeland. When they resume on a big-league level is the nervous question heading into 2027.

Lakeland, Fla. – Baseball at TigerTown never shuts down. Even in October.

Tigers farm kids, mostly young hitters, have been working out here the past week, getting some late teaching and polishing before heading home.

Otherwise, it’s quiet.

Marchant Stadium’s field was soggy Thursday from October’s monsoons and probably won’t see much traffic until minor-leaguers, at least those who aren’t on the Tigers’ 40-man roster, show up in late February to begin spring camp that isn’t likely to convene with big-league players.

Not with a long lockout and owners-players showdown expected to quash the MLB season until maybe May, at the earliest.

But conversations and check-ins were in order this week during a sixth trip in 2026 to TigerTown, four of which have come after spring training as Low-A Lakeland’s team duked it out in the Florida State League and as other kids, many of them teens fresh from the Dominican Republic, were tossed into the Florida Complex League hatchery. There was a lot to chronicle during these Lakeland drop-ins.

But as some baseball talk with Tigers staff and players awaited Thursday, and as October playoff drama carried on minus the Tigers joining MLB’s post-season party, thoughts about 2027 and how the big-league club might, and probably should, make a playoff comeback in 2027 were irresistible, all as rain from the Gulf dripped onto puddles standing in Marchant’s infield.

Among them:

— Parker Meadows, and how a guy seldom discussed could factor into the Tigers’ need in 2027 to add speed, defense, and power. There’s a gut feeling Meadows is one of those players who will be part of a team that surprises as much on the plus side in 2027 as the Tigers conked-out in 2026.

Look for him to play right field, leaving Max Clark in center. And it would be plausible in this view to see a player who had back-to-back blindsides of bad luck — a dead nerve in his arm in 2025 followed by a frightful collision with Riley Greene during a game in April of this year at Minnesota — to be back, fielding, hitting, and running his way toward helping energize the Tigers’ lineup.

Remember how Meadows, who still is only 26, helped drive that 2024 playoff surge: 47 games after he returned from Triple-A Toledo, .296 batting average, .340 on-base, .500 slugging, .840 OPS, with six homers — and five triples.

If looking for the most unexpected player to make the biggest dent in AJ Hinch’s offense in 2027, an early vote goes to Meadows.

As for Kerry Carpenter: If he returns, the Tigers lose in comparison with Meadows two elements they absolutely must, and will, add ahead of 2027: speed and better defense. An obvious possibility is Carpenter could be used at DH. An obvious reality is the Tigers will have only 26 roster chairs.

— Where is the power boost coming if a guy like Carpenter is forfeited and replaced with Meadows?

It’s another reason why the Tigers can expect in 2027 to be the AL Central’s surprise: They’ll hit more home runs, whether Carpenter is part of Hinch’s cast or not.