DETROIT -- Brennan Boesch couldn’t hide his disappointment.

The 26-year-old Detroit Tigers outfielder slumped in a chair in front of his locker stall before Sunday night’s series finale against the Chicago White Sox at Comerica Park and admitted his season is over.

"I’m done," he told reporters huddled around him. "I’m tentatively scheduled to get surgery on my thumb sometime this week. I don’t know when exactly. It’s one of those things where we tried to do everything."

Boesch tore the ligament in his right thumb in an Aug. 9 at-bat in Cleveland.

He attempted to play through the pain, but he kept re-aggravating the injury in the past month until he no longer could make what he called a routine swing and began to undergo different forms of treatment.

He tried injections to numb the pain. He tried rest. He got fitted for a brace.

None of it helped.

"I started with injections and then a protective pad. I tried to change my swing," said Boesch, who matured into one of the Tigers’ top run producers and hit .283 with 16 home runs and 54 RBIs in 115 games this season. "I thought with my body and my pain tolerance, I’d be able to play through it, but I can’t.

"It’s the most frustrating thing I’ve ever had to deal with."

Boesch achieved the sort of consistency at the plate this summer that he lacked in the second half last season. He hadn’t played since being inserted into an Aug. 31 home game against Kansas City to pinch run.

Tigers manager Jim Leyland said it’s a shame Boesch can’t finish the season.

"It hurts," Leyland said. "We’re going to be without him the rest of the way. There’s a decision to be made whether he has the surgery right away and just be done with it. That’ll be up to (Tigers president and general manager) Dave (Dombrowski) and the training staff, but I expect it’ll probably happen sooner."

Boesch said the hand specialist who will perform the surgery is based in Cleveland.

He didn’t know whether the operation would be scheduled while the team faces the Cleveland Indians in a three-game series that begins Monday at Progressive Field, but he would prefer to get it done fast.

"Hopefully, I can get it done sooner so I can start to recover," he said.

Boesch said the thumb problem has plagued him since his prep career at Harvard-Westlake High School in North Hollywood, Calif. He said neither he nor the Tigers know the full extent of the damage.

He just knows he can’t swing the bat the way he did earlier in the season.

"It was impossible to duplicate my swing," Boesch said. "It’s not a soft, easy swing. It’s a violent swing. I finish high and I finish with one hand. I put a lot of torque on it. I just couldn’t make a major-league swing."

Boesch said the surgeon has reassured him he should be fully recovered in time for 2012 spring training.

In the meantime, he’ll try to keep his chin up while the Tigers point to the postseason.

"Emotionally, this has been really rough on me," Boesch said. "I’m really frustrated. To be a part of a very special year and not be able to finish it out is excruciating. I’m just going to be the best cheerleader we’ve got."