For most of the season, the Detroit Tigers were watching the American League playoff race from the wrong side of the line. That changed Thursday night, and suddenly they’ve got a real grip on a postseason spot.
Detroit’s win over Cleveland, paired with the Texas Rangers’ loss to the Los Angeles Angels late Thursday in Anaheim, pushed the Tigers into the final American League wild card berth. At 60-61, they’re now one-half game ahead of Texas heading into a huge three-game set with the Chicago White Sox beginning Friday.
What makes this surge stand out is how Detroit has done it. The Tigers have spent the last two weeks without Tarik Skubal and Casey Mize, both traded at the deadline because the organization believed it might not be able to sign either one in the offseason.
From the outside, that looked like surrender. Detroit wasn’t buried, but trading away two arms like that sure sounded like a club backing off the race.
Instead, the Tigers have kept moving and now find themselves in position to play in the playoffs if the season ended today. They also still have a shot to catch the White Sox and win the division.
This run didn’t come out of nowhere. Back at the end of May, the Tigers were 22-38 and sitting 11.5 games behind in the AL Central. They had dropped four straight and looked like a team headed for the wrong kind of deadline conversation, with outsiders already wondering whether Detroit would go into sell mode and build around the young talent in its minor league system.
The turning point came in late July. A five-game stretch from July 25-29 saw Detroit lose four of five and fall six games off the division lead. The Tigers were still closer in the wild card picture, but president of baseball operations Scott Harris said the club made the call to trade Skubal after the final loss, a 10-9 defeat to Baltimore on July 29.
Skubal was dealt two days later. Mize followed two days after that.
Since then, the Tigers have kept winning. They’re 8-3 in August and 16-9 since the All-Star break.
The pitching staff has shifted into a different look, with budding ace Troy Melton fronting a group that also includes Keider Montero and offseason free-agent pickup Framber Valdez. Beyond that, Detroit is working to bring former first-round pick Jackson Jobe back into the rotation after Tommy John surgery.
The lineup has picked up its own momentum, too. Rookie Max Clark has given the offense a lift, and Kevin McGonigle - described as likely American League rookie of the year - has been slashing right alongside him.
It has the feel of 2024 all over again, when the Tigers caught fire over the final two months and punched their way into the playoffs for the first time in a decade. The difference now is obvious: this push is happening without Skubal and Mize. And somehow, the Tigers still look built to do it.
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Rainey has not just been trying to get healthy, either. He has added a curveball to his mix, and he credits the Tigers' pitching staff, along with coach Doug Bochtler, for helping him sharpen his mechanics and get his velocity moving in the right direction. AJ Hinch has already voiced confidence in what Rainey can bring, which makes this a bullpen subplot worth following as Detroit looks for more stability and a little extra punch in the late innings. [Read more 🡒]