The Detroit Tigers entering play tonight have ten games left in their regular season and currently sit 1.5 games behind the Minnesota Twins for the final wild-card spot following last night’s extra-inning win and the Twins’ 4-1 win over the Cleveland Guardians. Last night, the Tigers got on the board first as they scored in the top of the first inning on an RBI double by Matt Vierling that drove home Andy Ibanez, the Royals tied it in the bottom of the third on a Michael Massey single. The Tigers got out of jams all night and the game remained 1-1 after nine going to extras. In the top of the tenth the Tigers did exactly what an opposing team wants to do and scored two runs starting with an RBI single by Parker Meadows that scored Trey Sweeney, then Meadows scored on a single by Riley Greene to make it 3-1, Jason Foley came in in the bottom half of the inning and closed the door for his 25th save of the season. Now the Tigers wrap up their series against the Royals with Cy Young front-runner Tarik Skubal on the mound with a win and Twins’ losses today and tomorrow the Tigers would enter the weekend tied for the final wild card spot which Tigers fans should feel good about, but Skubal has struggled at Kauffman Stadium, he is 1-5 in seven starts with a 6.14 ERA, a 1.23 WHIP, and 38 strikeouts in 36.2 innings. Even if the Tigers suffer a loss tonight, they are still in this race, posting the best record since August 11th and they are 24-10 and have the best ERA in baseball since then.
Schedule
With the momentum they are riding that’s what you need for October baseball and they can make a deep run, now after tonight they have three series left with three games against the Baltimore Orioles who the Tigers are 2-1 against this season following a series win over them last weekend, the Orioles in September are 6-8 and in their last ten are 3-7 they currently are also in striking distance for the Tigers as they hold a four-game lead for the top wild-card spot, with a sweep the Tigers could catch them besides the Twins. Following the Orioles series the Tigers will return home to take on the Tampa Bay Rays for three games who they are 2-1 against this season, the Rays in September are 7-9 and are 5-5 in their last ten games. Finally, they wrap up with the Chicago White Sox who are on pace to be the worst team in baseball history, and the Tigers are 9-1 against them this season. This month, the White Sox are 5-10; in their last ten, they are 4-6.
It’s a schedule toward the end that benefits the Tigers as the Twins have the Guardians for two more than the Boston Red Sox who they are 2-1 against this season, and the Miami Marlins who they haven’t faced yet before wrapping up the season with Baltimore Orioles who they are 0-3 against this season. The Twins do have the tiebreaker of the Tigers though.
Team
The Tigers team is clicking with the youth and they are getting healthy, yes they lost Colt Keith last night to injury hopefully it’s nothing serious. They still have Tarik Skubal who is well on his way to likely winning the Cy Young, Keider Montero who just won Player of the Week, Casey Mize is back and Reese Olson just made his return. The bullpen has been dominant since August 11th they have the best ERA with a 2.04, and the best WHIP with a 0.90. The lineup is clicking averaging 4.7 runs per game also hitting .253 as a team with a .729 OPS. Parker Meadows return has been a spark plug as well as Kerry Carpenter and Riley Greene. This is also giving this team meaningful baseball experience for all the young guns on their roster which could play dividends not just now but this postseason assuming they get there but also for years to come.
Bottom Line:
No matter what happens this run has been must watch and the Tigers have rejuvenated a city that’s starving for playoff baseball, they got playoff football last season as the Detroit Lions made a run, then they have hope the Detroit Red Wings can get to the Stanley Cup playoffs but playoff baseball which the city of Detroit hasn’t seen since 2014 may be back which with the success being seen even if the Tigers miss the playoffs it may be worth saying Detroit sports are back.
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