Are the Tigers in freefall?
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by Barkingclam
At one point this summer, the Tigers looked pretty good, like one of the best teams in baseball. On July 20th they were 57-37, had the best record in the American League, although they led the AL Central by only a game. They had just gotten off the All-Star Break, when 5 of their players were named to the AL lineup (managed by Tigers' skipper Jim Leyland) and were on a roll, having won 7 of their last 10.
However, since the beginning of August, they’ve gone 10-16. During the same period, the Cleveland Indians, have gone on a tear, winning 15, overtaking them in the standings and taking a 4 game lead in the AL Central, thanks in part to their 4-2 record against the Tigers in the second half of the season.
So, what’s happened to the mighty Tigers? Player wise, they’re largely the same team that they were in July - and even last October, when they won the ALCS - and there hasn’t been any huge injuries or shakeups in management.
For one thing, their starting pitching is beginning to falter. Their number one man in the rotation - Jeremy Bonderman - has lost six of his last 10 starts, putting up a 4.87 ERA in the process. Nate Robertson, their number two starter, is 7-11 on the season with an ERA above five. Of all five members of their rotation, only one has an ERA that is around four - Justin Verlander, at 4.06 - and none of their rotation ranks in the top 20 leaders in ERA.
As a team, their pitching is not much better. It ranks 23rd in the majors in ERA, at 4.72 and 24th in WHIP, at 1.45. In both cases, they rank much lower than the Indians.
However, their hitting is more than just ordinary. As a team, they’re batting .285/.343/.460, ranking them (in order) 4th, 2nd and 6th in the majors, not just the AL. If they want to get to the postseason, they’ll have to slug their way there.
Which does seem like a possibility. They’re just three games back of the wild card, currently held jointly by the New York Yankees, who’s plagued by pitching woes, just like Detroit, and the Seattle Mariners, a young team that’s playing well above their heads (MLB.com has their expected wins/losses at 66-65, which would put them much farther down the wild card list). To do that, though, they’d need to put together a string of wins in September and hope the Yankees and Mariners don’t.
But that’s not a best case scenario. While they only play the Indians three times in September, they play the sub .500 Royals, Chicago White Sox and Texas Rangers a total of 12 times. The Indians, meanwhile, play 14 games against teams that are above .500, including late season sets against the Mariners and A‘s.
So while the Tigers have been in a constant state of free fall for the past little while, there’s still time. If they can get their pitching back in order, they should be able to make up some lost ground against the Indians.
