The Tigers are making noise again, and Monday night in Toronto gave the run a little more credibility.
Detroit opened its three-game set at Rogers Centre with a 6-5 comeback win over the Blue Jays, erasing deficits of 2-0 and 5-4 after going hitless through the first six innings. It was the kind of messy, stubborn victory that has started to define this late push. The Tigers have now won five straight, and with 12 games left, they suddenly have something they didn’t seem to have at the start of September: a pulse in the AL race.
That was hard to imagine a couple of weeks ago. Detroit entered September having dropped 10 of its previous 12, then followed that by losing important divisional series to the Minnesota Twins and Cleveland Guardians. By Sept. 6, the Tigers were staring up from 10 games back in the AL Central and 7.5 out of the final wild card spot.
And yet the American League has left just enough space for a team like this to creep back in. The Guardians, Blue Jays and Rangers, the three clubs most involved in the fight for the third wild card, are all 5-5 over their last 10 games.
The Central-leading Chicago White Sox are 4-6 in that same stretch. That kind of mediocrity keeps the door cracked.
Detroit’s record says one thing. The underlying numbers say something else.
At 71-79, the Tigers look like a lost team on paper. But their plus-71 run differential is the AL’s third-best, and it’s the only positive mark among teams currently outside the playoff field.
It also sits more than 30 runs better than any other AL Central team. That’s not the profile of a club that has completely fallen apart, even if the season has featured plenty of ugly stretches, from the bullpen issues to the departure of Tarik Skubal.
There has been enough good mixed in to make the next 12 days matter. Kevin McGonigle is widely expected to be named AL Rookie of the Year.
Max Clark has turned in a promising major league debut. Riley Greene and Dillon Dingler have both delivered strong seasons that offer some hope for the middle of the order going forward.
The schedule also gives Detroit a real chance to keep pressing. The remaining two games in Toronto can cut into the wild card gap, and the ongoing series between the White Sox and Guardians guarantees that someone ahead of the Tigers in the division will lose ground.
After that comes a massive four-game series in Chicago, which gives Detroit a direct shot at an unlikely division title. The regular season then ends with back-to-back three-game home sets against the already-eliminated Washington Nationals and the Pittsburgh Pirates, who are currently seven games out of the final NL wild card spot.
For Tigers fans, the idea of a September rally is not exactly fantasy material. They watched one unravel in brutal fashion just a year ago, when Detroit’s 15.5-game division lead vanished and the Guardians stormed back to take the Central.
At the 150-game mark last season, Cleveland was still 6.5 games back in the division. Detroit is 6.0 games back now.
Go back two years, and the memory gets even better for the Tigers. In 2024, they wiped out a five-game deficit in the final month and reached the postseason.
The odds are still steep. But the path is there, and for the first time in a while, Detroit is forcing everyone to take a second look.
In Other News...
Colt Keith Scratch Leaves Tigers With A Bigger Concern Before Toronto
The Tigers were forced into a late shuffle before facing the Blue Jays, scratching Colt Keith because of left thumb soreness and sliding Hao-Yu Lee into third base. It was the kind of last-minute lineup tweak that can change the feel of an afternoon, especially for a team still sorting out its infield depth and trying to keep the offense on track.
Detroit also activated Keider Montero off the paternity list and sent Yilber Diaz back to Triple-A Toledo, adding another layer to a busy roster day. And while A.J. Hinch was willing to publicly back Kevin McGonigle for American League Rookie of the Year, the bigger immediate question for the Tigers was Keiths thumb and whether this was just a brief absence or something they will have to monitor more closely. [Read more 🡒]
Tigers Kept Their Playoff Push Alive In A Comeback They Desperately Needed
The Tigers arrived in Toronto needing something to break their way, and for much of Sunday at Rogers Centre it looked like Jos Soriano might make sure nothing did. The Blue Jays right-hander carried a perfect game into the sixth and a no-hitter into the seventh before Detroit finally cracked through, turning a tense afternoon into a back-and-forth game that kept the Tigers in striking distance in the American League wild-card race.
Detroit kept answering until the final inning, and the payoff came in the ninth when a Vladimir Guerrero Jr. throwing error opened the door for the winning run in a 6-5 Tigers victory. It was the kind of comeback the club badly needed, not just for the standings but for the reminder that even on a day when the other side had the upper hand for a long stretch, Detroit could still find a way to hang around and finish. [Read more 🡒]
Tigers Streak Faces An Immediate Test In Toronto
Detroits late-season push has them arriving in Toronto with a little momentum and a much bigger test. The Tigers have won four straight and taken two consecutive series as the regular season winds down, but the opener of a three-game set often has a way of exposing whether a streak is built to last or just running on fumes.
Troy Melton gets the ball for Detroit opposite Jos Soriano, and both sides are leaning on starters whose recent work has been uneven. For the Tigers, the trip offers a chance to keep the pressure on in a tight finish, but it also asks a lot of a rotation spot that has not been the steadiest lately. [Read more 🡒]