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As this was going to press, the Detroit Tigers had yet to secure their spot in the post season with just a few days left. They were certainly in a decent enough spot competing with a handful of other teams.
Detroit looked like a team in the rebuilding process after the halfway mark. Then it happened. The Tigers just got really good.
In fact, Detroit is currently the best team in Major League Baseball and pretty much all other clubs are praying hard they don't get in.
Even Baltimore is not playing gangbusters these days. But they doing just enough to close out the season.
The Orioles beat the Yankees again Wednesday night, which makes it less likely the Tigers will host the wild card round.
Baltimore leads the Tigers by four games in the wild card standings with four games left as of Thursday. Detroit would have to go 4-0, the Orioles have to go 0-4, and the Royals have to lose at least once more to bring the first round of the playoffs to Comerica Park.
Now for the good news, Detroit is tied with the Royals, a team that rebounded from a seven-game losing streak in early September to win seven of nine. KC also heads to Atlanta to close out the season and the Braves are vying for a post season spot as well. They've won three straight coming into Thursday while the Royals were 3-7.
Baseball bookies had to be loving this season as the better teams like the Phillies, Dodgers, Yankees and Twins all sputtered at one point or another just as they looked like the hottest thing in the league.
ClickOnDetroit presents the various scenarios for the Tigers to make the post season:
If the Tigers can finish off the sweep of the Rays, they’ll go into the White Sox series with at least one game of cushion over the Twins.
A loss Thursday will add a little more anxiety to this weekend, even against the worst team in MLB history. Needing a sweep is never easy.
Here’s how I would rank the possible remaining outcomes, in order of likelihood.
Tigers get the second wild card spot and play in Baltimore.
Tigers get the third wild card spot and play in Houston.
Tigers miss the playoffs.
Tigers get the first wild card spot and host the Orioles.
Tigers get the second wild card spot and play the Yankees in New York.
Notice the only option in this list that was removed from yesterday’s version is the Tigers earning the second wild card spot and playing in Kansas City. Since the Royals can’t jump the Orioles anymore, it’s impossible for Kansas City to get the top wild card spot.
The only reason the Tigers are still alive in that conversation is because they won the season series over the Orioles.
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