"On ESPN's "Baseball Tonight" on Friday, catcher Alex Avila discussed what he thinks needs to happen often this year for the Tigers to meet expectations: consistent play in the field, at the plate and, especially, on the mound.

"Throughout the course of the season, you're not going to do all three of those consistently all the time," Avila told host Karl Ravech. "Each aspect has to pick each other up, and being able to get consistent pitching is at the top of the list.

"Then everything else will follow, and you kind of gain confidence as the season goes on when you're able to play consistent baseball in all aspects of the game."

He said the Tigers know about the target on their back as heavy American League Central favorites -- "I think everybody in the nation knows that now," he said -- and that they're motivated to finish what they started last season.

"The fact that we get another opportunity to achieve our goals," Avila said, "it just fuels you in the off-season, and I know as a team, we're extremely motivated.""