It’s Playoffs or Bust for Detroit Tigers

This Detroit Tigers season has been much more entertaining and thrilling than the last, but is it fair to say that the season is a complete failure if the team does not make the playoffs?

The Detroit Tigers have not been mathematically eliminated from the playoff chase, but it has been sometimes hard to tell a difference from the disastrous team that played out the string at the end of last season’s debacle and the one that is limping to the finish of the current season that had a lot of promise.

With two weeks left in the season, admittedly anything is possible. All fans have to do is to look back four years ago to when the season was “over” before it was officially over.

On Sept. 17, 2012, the Tigers lost a makeup game in Chicago, and fell behind the division-leading White Sox by three games with two weeks left. They would go 12-5 the rest of the way, while Chicago floundered, allowing the Tigers to win their second of four straight division titles.

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Of course that was only a two-team race back then. The Tigers must now fend off four teams within three games of them, and two teams a pair of games ahead of them (headed into Monday’s day off) to snag a playoff berth.

So while anything is possible, Detroit didn’t do themselves any favors last week with a split against the hapless Minnesota Twins and another series defeat to the Cleveland Indians. The playoff return that looked so promising for much of the second-half is becoming a bit of a longshot.

So let’s assume the Detroit Tigers do not make the playoffs. Should fans think that the 2016 season was a failure? There were several highlights this year including long winning streaks and fun moments such as:

• J.D. Martinez‘s exciting first pitch off the DL homer
• Jose Iglesias‘ walk-off infield single
• The historic run of leading AL ROY candidate Michael Fulmer
• The arrival of Nick Castellanos prior to his injury
• Ian Kinsler‘s near flawless defense & spark at top of lineup
• Another steady year for future Hall of Famer Miguel Cabrera
• The return of Justin Verlander to ace status

The Tigers are on a pace for 85 to 86 wins and a second-place finish, which would be a clear step-up from 2015’s 74-87, last place finish. There was much more excitement this year, the thrill of scoreboard watching, and the fun of a pennant race, all of which was absent last year.

On one hand, this season might not be able to be labeled a “failure,” because at least the team played meaningful games in September, right? Sadly, like a college course that is taken as pass or fail, it doesn’t matter how well you do on a couple tests, if you can’t pass the class, it’s a failure.

The Tigers have put themselves on par with the “big boys” of baseball for many years now. Their payroll north of $205 million has seen to that.

Of the top six spending teams in baseball, it looks likely (at least by current projections) the Detroit Tigers and New York Yankees will not make the playoffs. One can argue (unlike in Detroit) that no postseason in the Bronx can be considered successful because of the strong trades the Yankees made to set them up for future success. Not to mention the Yanks simply rising from the ashes to make a a playoff run at all.

So while there was plenty of fun moments in 2016 to look back on fondly, if the Detroit Tigers don’t stage a miraculous, 2012-style, two-week run to close the regular season, 2016 will be another colossal failure.

On “Black Monday” of the baseball season, the day after the regular season closes and teams outside of the playoffs may look to make changes, expect the Tigers to spew the same talking points we’ve heard for years.

They’ll likely discuss how injuries ravished their chances, a few bounces here or there could have changed things, or, “hey, look how good we were against everyone not named the Cleveland Indians.”

With such an expansive payroll, and no playoff victories since 2013, a price must be paid. It must start at the top with the removal of Dave Dombrowski’s former top lieutenant, Al Avila, and the decision to not pick up manager Brad Ausmus‘ 2017 team option.

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It was playoffs or bust for the Detroit Tigers, and if the result is bust, there MUST be repercussions.