Detroit Tigers are Back in Playoff Position
By Matt Snyder
The Detroit Tigers jumped back into American League Wild Card position thanks to a sweep of the Twins and a Red Sox sweep of the Orioles.
The Detroit Tigers exited last weekend in third place in the American League Wild Card standings. They were two games behind the Toronto Blue Jays for second place and three games behind the Baltimore Orioles for first place.
Postseason odds calculators gave the Tigers a (roughly) 23% chance to win a Wild Card spot. Now, just four days later, the picture looks much rosier for the Tigers.
The Tigers took all three of their games from the Minnesota Twins — including Thursday’s doubleheader sweep — and the Orioles got pounded by the Boston Red Sox for four games.
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The result was the Tigers making up 3.5 games over the Orioles in the shortest amount of time possible and sliding back into the second Wild Card spot. They even made up a game on the Blue Jays in the process as well.
With 10 games left to play nothing is yet secure, but the odds have shifted back into the Tigers’ favor. As of Friday morning their chances have risen over 57%, a few points shy of the season high 61% that was achieved early this month.
It looks as if 88 wins will be enough to secure (at least) the second Wild Card spot. To achieve that win total the Tigers must finish 6-4 (or better). That still probably involves, at a minimum, winning series against the Royals and Braves and splitting with the Indians.
The Tigers will be helped out by the fact that the Orioles and Blue Jays are scheduled to face each other for three games next week. The upside there is that one of those teams has to lose (at least) two of those games.
Playing the schedule game is fun but funny things can happen in baseball in small samples. A team like the Astros could go 8-1 and make life difficult or the Tigers could stumble to 3-7 and take themselves out of the race.
All we know is it looks like the postseason chase is going to come right down to the wire.
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The Detroit Tigers will begin a three-game home series against the Kansas City Royals on Friday night.