KANSAS CITY, MO – Two things can be true at the same time about the Detroit Tigers.
Even though they seem completely opposite. Contradictory, even.
The first: These losses keep stacking up at the worst possible time.
One after another. It’s frustrating and disappointing and discouraging.
After losing to the Kansas City Royals, 5-2, on Friday, Aug. 21 – yes to the lowly Royals, 18 games under .500 – the 61-67 Tigers have lost six of their past seven. They are now six games back in the American League Central, thanks to former Tigers catcher Jake Rogers, who hit a walk-off homer for the Central-leading Chicago White Sox (67-61).
I mean, of course he did. (But I am happy for him).
But it has left the Tigers in a dire situation. The idea of winning the Central from a six-game hole seems highly unlikely with just 34 games left. So, that’s pretty much shot.
And then there’s the second thing: All is not lost.
They are just 2½ games out of the AL’s third and final wild-card spot. The sub-.500 Texas Rangers (64-65) have that spot, followed by the the Minnesota Twins and Cleveland Guardians (both at 63-66), the Toronto Blue Jays (63-67) – all teams they still play – and the Baltimore Orioles (62-67). So, in that sense, the Tigers mostly control their own destiny. (They even have the tiebreaker over the Rangers, based on the season series. Only the O’s have the edge on the Tigers.)
Official slogan for the American League: Everybody’s still in it, because nobody is worth a dang.
So, I refuse to say this season is over. Because it’s not. Not mathematically – and not to break any news here, but they use math to determine who gets into the postseason. (See those above tiebreakers.) It seems entirely possible that a team with a losing record could clinch a wild-card spot. Sure, that might be ugly math. An ugly situation. But it’s possible.
Remember, the Tigers once won nine of 12. How long ago? Well,that’s what they had rolling right until this latest seven-game collapse. So, don’t tell me it’s not possible. They just did it.
Welcome to late-season ball, youngsters
Now, two other things can be true.
The first: This is a tremendous experience for several rookies.
I mean, the Tigers started five of them on Friday. Then, they brought in another off the bench.
This late-summer run is a tremendous experience for them. To feel how everything is magnified later in the season. To realize how everything is important. To feel how one play can change everything.
You gotta figure that Kevin McGonigle and Max Clark, and even Eduardo Valencia, are gonna be around for a while.
So this experience is invaluable for them.
“Obviously, the last seven games were tough,” McGonigle said. “I think everyone in here is still really confident and still going about their business really well pre-game, even post-game. Guys staying in the training room or the weight room, making sure they’re ready to go, and that will never change. Our mindset will never change. Just in a bad stretch. I think we’re all going to have to stay focused and go out and keep playing the game of baseball we’ve been playing. And you know, again, last seven games have been tough, but before that, we were pretty solid. So we got to keep going out and competing and playing hard.”
You get the idea this kid is gonna be a leader of this team. Like, soon?
This is how it happens.
And then there’s the second thing: Injuries and trades have left this team in a precarious, vulnerable position.
The Tigers sure could use Riley Greene right now in left field and at the plate, but he’s out with a hamstring.
They could sure use right-hander Jack Flaherty because that could put righty Drew Anderson – or even Keider Montero – back in the bullpen.
Still, they have been in darn near every game.
“We’re not getting blown out,” said Troy Melton, Friday’s starter who allowed just two runs in 5⅔ innings. “We’re in all these games. It’s not like we’re playing uncompetitive baseball.”
True enough. Now, let me make one more point.
I don’t think the pressure is getting to them. I just think the talent level on this team has been reduced so far that the margin for error is infinitesimal – one tiny thing can derail everything.
The other team hits a homer, and a game seems like it’s over.
The Tigers have one missed scoring opportunity, and it feels like a game slips away.
That’s what is happening.
“I think pressure is funny,” Melton said. “I think pressure is kind of just what you make it. “
So, I know it looks dire – and if you are trying to win the Central (and maybe get a bye into the ALDS), yes, it’s dire – but I haven’t given up on the Tigers making the postseason.
I mean, the Rangers hold the last spot in the wild-card race entering Saturday. They have 63 wins – just two more than the Tigers. That doesn’t seem like an insurmountable hole for a team fighting for months, trying to climb out of that awful hole from a 6-16 May.
Is it dire? Yes.
Is it over? Nope.
After all, there’s the official slogan of the AL wild-card race this season: Give us your tired, your poor, your huddled masses … and they, too, can make the postseason.
Contact Jeff Seidel: jseidel@freepress.com. Follow him on X @seideljeff.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Tigers’ AL wild-card hopes look dire … but they still have a chance
Reporting by Jeff Seidel, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
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By Jeff Seidel, Detroit Free Press | USA TODAY Network
