The Detroit Tigers are starting to click on both sides of the ball after a tough beginning to the season in which they were swept by the Los Angeles Dodgers.

As it turns out, playing three close, competitive games against the best team on the planet and potentially in the history of baseball is nothing to turn your nose up at and the Tigers will have an excellent chance Wednesday afternoon to get back to .500 with a possible sweep of the Seattle Mariners.

Though Detroit looks to be starting to figure it out spearheaded by early hitting and strong defense, one of their most important players has been out for the last month or so and though it was known Matt Vierling would begin the year on the injured list, by the sounds of it he may be close to making his return to the diamond.

According to the latest Tigers injury report as relayed by Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free Press, Vierling is not only rehabbing as well as completing conditioning and defensive drills daily, he has also begun hitting batting practice in the cage.

Vierling – who has been dealing with a strained rotator cuff – was not expected to be out anywhere near the same amount of time as his counterpart Parker Meadows, who was moved to the 60-day injured list last week and looks set to miss at least half the season.

Though an exact timetable is still unknown at this time, it seems safe to say Vierling is going to be back sometime over the next couple of weeks as Detroit continues to try to weather the storm without their utility man who can play whatever position he is needed at on any given day.

Entering the season expected to play a critical role both at third base and likely in either corner outfield spot not to mention being a severe upgrade at the plate from the current, healthy options, the team has managed well without Vierling to this point.

If the Tigers can continue to rack up some victories while he remains sidelined and working his way back, it could be the perfect storm of a hot team getting even strong when he is ready to make his season debut.

Though that probably is not going to happen for likely half a month or so, there’s no question Vierling is getting closer to making a return.