GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — To quote broadcaster Jason Benetti, “Everything is coming up Tigers.”
Somehow, a team that was a seller at the trade deadline has not only played its way into the playoff race but has grabbed a hold of the wheel and controls its own destiny heading into the final week of the regular season.
On Sunday, everything broke Detroit’s way. Not only did the Tigers hold on to eke out a 4-3 road win over a very good Baltimore team, but the Twins dropped both games of their Sunday doubleheader in Boston.
Combined with Kansas City’s 2-0 loss to the Giants and Seattle’s collapse against the Rangers, the Tigers are now tied with the Royals for the final two wild-card spots in the American League.
Feasibly, there are four teams in the hunt for two spots: Kansas City, Minnesota, Seattle and your Detroit Tigers. Tampa Bay and Boston are both four games back of Kansas City and Detroit and have a very slim chance of qualifying. ESPN estimates the Tigers currently have a 71% chance of making the postseason.
All four teams have six games to play. The Tigers and the Twins both finish the year with home series, the Royals are on the road, while the Mariners have one of each, traveling to Houston before hosting Oakland over the weekend. The only thing working against the Tigers right now are the tiebreakers. Because both the Royals and the Twins had better winning records against the Tigers this year, Detroit must finish with a better record to qualify.
The Tigers have gotten to this point by being one of the hottest teams in baseball, but the ground they have made up this past week is also thanks to their opponents falling short.
The Royals are in the midst of a major skid. They have lost seven games in a row, including all three in their home series against the Tigers last week. The Twins haven’t been much better, going 3-7 in their last 10 games and 1-4 in their last five.
It’s the latest chapter in a bizarre journey for the Tigers. On July 30, the date of the MLB trade deadline, the Tigers were 52-57 and had the 10th-best record in the American League, 7.5 games shy of the final wild-card spot with a list of contenders in front of them. Several key contributors, including ace Jack Flaherty, outfielder Mark Canha, catcher Carson Kelly and reliever Andrew Chafin were traded away for a haul of prospects, clearing the way for the team to get a closer look at some of the players who could play a role in the team’s future.
Instead of folding, the kids rose to the occasion. Since then, the Tigers have gone 30-17, beating some good teams along the way.
They just took 4 of 6 from Baltimore (86-70) and swept a three-game set with the Royals (82-74). In August, they also swept Seattle (80-76) and took two of three from the AL East-leading Yankees (92-64).
The Tigers will face the Rays (78-78) for three before closing out the regular season with a series against the Chicago White Sox (36-120), who need to win all six of their games to avoid setting the record for most losses in a season since 1900.
The Twins will host the Marlins (57-99) before taking on the Orioles at Target Field. The Royals will head to Washington (69-87) before finishing it out with three in Atlanta (85-71).
