DETROIT – The Detroit Tigers have a losing record, and they haven’t been playing very good baseball. But somehow, they’re still hanging around in the crowded wild card race.
As of Monday morning, the Tigers are 32-33 on the season with a minus-6 run differential. They just ended a three-game losing streak that included 9-1 and 10-0 blowouts.
And yet, they’re only two games behind the Minnesota Twins for the final American League wild card spot.
Since Major League Baseball added a sixth playoff slot to each league, it seems like any team that hangs around .500 has a chance to sneak into the postseason.
Only three teams -- the Athletics, Angels, and White Sox -- are more than 4.5 games out of a playoff spot in the AL. Meanwhile, there are seven teams vying for that sixth and final seed.
The Twins are 1.5 games ahead of the Red Sox, two games ahead of the Tigers and Blue Jays, three games ahead of the Rangers and Rays, and 4.5 games ahead of the Astros.
Detroit is a combined 15-13 against that group, so it certainly seems to belong.
I wrote a few weeks ago that I don’t consider the Tigers a serious wild card contender, and that’s still true. But it does seem like the AL’s middle class is mediocre enough that the Tigers could hang around for longer than expected.
Unfortunately, because of Cleveland, the Tigers are completely out of the AL Central race. They’re already 10.5 games back, and they don’t look like a team capable of ripping off a long winning streak.
But can they hover around .500 for the entire summer? Well, they’ve done it for 65 games, so why not?
It seems both Jack Flaherty and Kenta Maeda dodged serious injury in Texas, which means the starting rotation that’s carried the Tigers all year remains intact for now.
And the offense has shown some signs of life. Matt Vierling is stepping up in Kerry Carpenter’s absence, and Wenceel Perez has been a nice surprise. Gio Urshela and Mark Canha are steadying forces, and both catchers are hitting much better, too.
This isn’t a World Series contender, but a strong starting rotation and an average offense might be enough to remain in the mix.
These next five weeks before the All-Star break will be critical, as the Tigers try to stay afloat against some of the league’s top competition.
They have to play arguably the three best teams in MLB over that span: Philadelphia, Atlanta, and the Dodgers. They’ve also got four games against Cleveland and series each against fellow wild card contenders Minnesota, Cincinnati, Houston, and Washington.
If the Tigers get through that stretch and remain within a few games of the final wild card spot, then we can actually spend an All-Star break dissecting a playoff race.
It’s been awhile since we could say that.