Detroit Tigers' Playoff Odds Get Massive Boost After Big Comeback vs. Royals
The Detroit Tigers just keep finding ways to win.
In Monday's series opener against the Kansas City Royals at Kauffman Stadium, the Tigers quickly fell into a 4-0 hole through three innings. They were facing one of the best pitchers in baseball this year in Seth Lugo, who entered the game with the most wins (16) and innings (193) in the American League to go with a 2.94 ERA and a 1.09 WHIP.
But perhaps all those innings -- well above Lugo's previous high of 146 -- are catching up to him. The All-Star righty completely unraveled in the middle innings, failing to get through the fifth and letting Detroit back in the game. The Tigers raked him for four runs on eight hits in 4 2/3 innings before knocking him out of the game, proving they can hit anyone.
Detroit's barrage continued against the Royals' bullpen, as the Tigers tacked on three more runs in the sixth to finally take the lead. Their relievers took it from there, keeping Kansas City off the board over the final four frames to preserve the 7-5 victory.
The win was Detroit's seventh in its last nine games, improving its record to 78-73. Going back further, the surging Tigers are 23-10 since Aug. 11 -- the best record in baseball during that time.
Meanwhile, the Minnesota Twins fell to the Cleveland Guardians 4-3, dropping to 79-71. The slumping Twins have gone in the opposite direction as Detroit, going 9-18 since Aug. 17 and losing major ground in the standings.
After being 9.5 games back a few weeks ago, the Tigers now trail Minnesota by just 1.5 games in the Wild Card standings (2.5 games including the tiebreaker). Detroit has 11 games remaining on its schedule, while the Twins have 12.
hunting szn pic.twitter.com/9YfnV4npl0
— Detroit Tigers (@tigers) September 17, 2024
With only two weeks left in the season, Monday's win was massive for the Tigers' playoff odds. According to FanGraphs, they now have an 18.1% chance of making the playoffs compared to 9.8% when the day started, nearly doubling their chances.
Detroit will try to keep the momentum going on Tuesday behind Casey Mize (2-6, 4.47 ERA), who will go up against All-Star lefty Cole Ragans (11-9, 3.32 ERA). Meanwhile, Minnesota will send struggling rookie Zebby Matthews (1-3, 7.11 ERA) to the mound in Cleveland against Gavin Williams (3-9, 5.23 ERA).
Every game counts at this point for the Tigers, who need to keep grinding out wins if they want to make the playoffs for the first time since 2014.
TYLER MAHER