AI Illustration
AI illustrations
The Detroit Tigers are broken.
After sitting in first place since late April, the Tigers fell to second place Wednesday night, losing their eighth straight game, 5-1, to the Cleveland Guardians at Progressive Field. The Guardians now sit in first place.
The Tigers are 85-73, Cleveland is 86-72. At this point, there’s a strong possibility the Tigers won’t even secure a wild-card spot.
Detroit has one more game against Cleveland on Thursday at 6:40 p.m., then heads to Boston for the final three games of the season.
Jack Flaherty, the Tigers losing pitcher, allowed three runs on five hits with no walks and six strikeouts across 4⅓ innings, throwing 83 pitches. It was his final start of the regular season.
The Tigers will need to make major changes in the offseason to fix what looks very broken.
The three first place teams in their divisions make the playoffs and then the three teams that have the best record take the wild card spots.
Three First Place Teams
1. East: Toronto and New York are tied for first with at 90-68
2. Central: Cleveland Guardians: 86-72
3. West: Seattle Mariners: 89-69
Top 3 Teams Land Wild Card:
1. Either New York or Toronto
2. Boston Red Sox: 87-71
3. Detroit Tigers: 85-73
4. Houston Astros: 84-74
It's likely to come down to Detroit or Houston taking the last wild card spot.
Mathematically, Detroit still has a shot at taking first place in the Central, but the way they're playing it isn't likely.
The standing was not updated as of early Thursday morning. Seattle's win and Houston's loss were not reflected in the standings betlow.
