1) At a sparkling 18 and 9, they are the best team in the American League.
They share the best winning percentage (.667) in all of baseball with the Brewers. Not that such regular season success always directly translates to the playoffs, but it’s never a bad thing entering the October tournament as the prohibitive favorite.
2) They have the scariest 1-2 starting pitching punch in the bigs.
Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer are both in their primes at 31 and 29 years old, respectively. Each fireballing right hander is already 4-1, with minuscule ERAs (Scherzer’s 1.72 is tops in the AL). It also appears Rick Porcello is emerging into a top-of-the-rotation starter. After winning 10 to 14 games in all five years of his career, the now-veteran Porcello is on his way to 20, getting out of the gate quickly with that same dazzling 4-1 mark as his pitching brethren. The 22 strikeouts to just four walks is a promising sign for Porcello’s continued excellence as the summer progresses.
3) Historically speaking, they are due.
The Tigers won their first World Series in 1935, defeating the heavily-favored Chicago Cubs. Exactly one decade later, they took the crown for a second time, again taking out a Cubs team that most expected would coast to a Series victory. Twenty three years later (1968), the Tigers were champions of baseball for a third time. Finally, 16 years after that, the much-celebrated ’84 team whacked the San Diego Padres for the franchise’s fourth and final championship.
That means this current 30-year title drought is the longest in Tigers’ history. It makes total sense in the team’s chronology that a World Series win would come this year. The Tigers never win two or three in a row like the Yankees or the Big Red Machine, but they aren’t the Indians, either, going half-centuries between championships. The law of averages says 2014 has a chance to be very special.
4) The team chemistry is off the charts.
Just yesterday, reliever Joba Chamberlain led a little clubhouse fashion show where several of the players sported Tiger-striped Zubaz Pants. New guy Rajai Davis got into it, and always-smiling Torii Hunter took part, as well.
There do not appear to be any Ndamukong Suh-types on this team, meaning no player tries to be bigger than the group. This bodes well for an autumn playoff run, as we saw last year just how important a silly team unity thing like beard-growing can be for a club in search of a championship.
5) Left field might not be such a weakness anymore.
After years of uncertainty in that terrain, Rajai Davis has come from Toronto and taken ownership of the position. He’s third in the American League in hitting (.337) and tied for the lead in stolen bags (11). For a guy that usually holds steady around the .260-270 mark, Davis’ hot start has been a welcome surprise for a Tigers’ squad long in search of a full-time producer in left field.
6) The rest of the division is painfully average.
The Tigers are the only plus-.500 team. The Twins are puttering along at 15-15, but that franchise seems to have lost virtually all of its mojo after taking its home games outdoors. The White Sox won the whole enchilada in 2005, but they’ve done very little since, winning just one playoff game over the last eight years. Many thought 2014 would finally be the year the Royals rose to the top of the AL Central. Not so much.
Their offense is anemic, registering dead last in home runs and it’s not even close. These current Steve Balboni-less Royals have swatted just 13 bombs thus far, a shocking contrast to the circuit-pacing Angels that have smacked 40 in the same time frame. And then you have the last place Cleveland Indians, a sad-sack club that took the Series in 1920, 1948, and that’ll just about do it. They have been active members of the American League since 1901, and they’ve got exactly two titles to show for it. One of these days, the Indians and Cubs will meet to see who can capture that elusive third championship. It just might have to happen on PlayStation.
7) Rookie skippers have won it all before, so Brad Ausmus is not in unfamiliar territory here.
It’s happened four times in baseball history, most recently accomplished by Bob Brenly with the Diamondbacks in 2001. The fresh-faced Ausmus has kept the Tigers on an even keel, never allowing a losing streak to extend past two. He’s also started to coax better production out of his catchers, getting quality contributions from both Alex Avila and Bryan Holaday in the last couple weeks.
8) The bullpen might not be half bad.
After some initial worries that the bullpen would be the squad's weakest unit, the group seems to have found a bit of a rhythm. Elder statesman Joe Nathan has settled in nicely after a rocky start. Joba Chamberlain has also become more comfortable of late -- he’s yet to surrender a single long ball this season. And once Phil Coke is replaced by an actual major league hurler, the sleepless nights around metro Detroit can subside for good.
9) The team is running away with the division...and Miguel Cabrera hasn’t even gotten started yet.
The two-time defending league MVP has been fairly quiet through the season’s first month, cracking just two homers and hitting a modest .270. Common sense would suggest that Cabrera is going to bust out at some point, and when that happens, the already-streaking Tigers will be that much tougher to beat.
10) Simply put, this is the year it needs to happen.
Max Scherzer is about six months from free agency. Torii Hunter is knocking on 40. This is Justin Verlander’s 10th season pitching in the bigs and he’s probably going to eclipse the 2,000 career innings mark this year. Cabrera has finished in the top-five of the MVP vote for the last half-decade, but at some point, you need to ride that greatness to a title before it’s too late.
The team is obviously blessed with tremendous talent, both in the lineup and on the hill. There is even a more balanced blend of youth and experience than in year’s past. The Tigers will continue to be contenders beyond 2014, but with the Scherzer situation brewing and other key figures battling father time, there appears to be no better time than this summer and fall for a little Motor City baseball magic.
