Detroit Tigers Can Boast Two Impressive Feats From Playoff Season
The Detroit Tigers were one of the best stories of the 2024 Major League Baseball season.
The Tigers ended a 10-year playoff drought and had their first winning season since 2016. They won their first playoff series since 2013 before falling to Cleveland in the AL Division Series.
It could be a launching pad for great things in 2025, as the Tigers boast an impressive young roster and made a key offensive transaction by signing free-agent second baseman Gleyber Torres to a one-year, $15 million deal.
But it’s how the Tigers got there that is impressive, according to MLB.com’s Sarah Langs.
In her article, “24 reasons baseball was the BEST in 2024,” she pointed out two unique things the Tigers did last season to make that postseason berth happen.
First, Detroit had to surge to get into the playoffs. After 118 games, the Tigers were eight games under .500. Teams that far below .500 that late in the season — with just 44 games remaining — tend not to make the playoffs.
In fact, there was only one team that had done it being eight games under .500 that late in the season, which was the 1973 New York Mets, who were eight games under .500 138 games into the season, per the Elias Sports Bureau.
When Detroit was eight games under .500 after 118 games, the Tigers were also 10 games out of playoff spot. By reaching the postseason, Detroit became the fifth team to get there that far out of playoff spot 115 or more games into the season.
The Tigers joined the 2011 Cardinals, the 1964 Cardinals, the 1951 Giants and the 1930 Cardinals.
The other feat involves Tigers ace Tarik Skubal. He had an impressive season, as he went 18-4 with a 2.39 ERA in 31 starts, with a MLB-leading 228 strikeouts against 35 walks. His 6.3 wins above replacement per baseball-reference.com led all of baseball.
But Skubal won not only the AL Cy Young award, but he also won the league’s pitching triple crown, as he led the AL in wins, strikeouts and ERA.
The same thing happened in the National League with Atlanta starter Chris Sale. It was just the fourth time since earned runs became an official statistic in 1913 that both leagues had a triple crown winner.
One of them happens to be former Tigers starter Justin Verlander, who did it in 2011 along with Dodgers star Clayton Kershaw.
Skubal also became the third Tigers pitcher to win the triple crown, along with Hal Newhouser in 1945. Detroit also became the second team to have three different pitchers win the triple crown.
