Detroit Tigers Have Greatly Exceeded Preseason Expectations
The Detroit Tigers keep finding ways to win, as their chances of making the playoffs seemingly keep increasing by the day.
It has been a great stretch run for the Tigers, despite being sellers at the trade deadline, Detroit is just a couple of games out of the final American League Wild Card spot. In large part due to excellent pitching, the Tigers are having one of the best second halves of the season in the majors.
One of the main reasons for the success of Detroit this year has been the big jump in production from starting pitcher Tarik Skubal. The favorite to win the American League Cy Young is having the best campaign of his career, and has emerged as a true ace for the staff.
Despite mixing and matching starters, the Tigers have been able to rely on Skubal this season to provide them with quality start after quality start. The great campaign by the left-hander has helped Detroit exceed all expectations this season.
Joel Reuter of Bleacher Report recently revisited the preseason expectations for the Tigers from Baseball Prospectus, which used their PECOTA projection system. The projection system had Detroit at 75 in the preseason, a number which they have already passed.
To start the year, the win total of 75 seemed like a very fair number for the Tigers. At the time, Detroit didn’t know that they were going to have the Cy Young award winner for their league on the team, as the meteoric rise of their ace has propelled the franchise to new heights.
Truly competing for a playoff spot this late in the season shows that the organization might be a year ahead of their planned rebuild, and they have the opportunity to really make some noise in the offseason.
With the financial ability to sign a significant bat, Detroit might be able to challenge for the division next season, as their young core continues to develop.
Currently, the Tigers have already exceeded the projections by a few games. Coming up, they will have matchups against the Baltimore Orioles, Tampa Bay Rays, and Chicago White Sox to end the season.
Six of those nine games are against teams that won’t be in the playoffs, and another sweep of the White Sox to end the season would really help their playoff chances.
Regardless of whether Detroit makes the postseason, it has been an excellent step forward for the organization in 2024.
NICK ZIEGLER