Is Detroit Tigers Pitching Staff the Worst in MLB Postseason?
The Detroit Tigers have shocked the baseball world by putting themselves squarely in the playoff race as they enter their final two series of the season.
Chad Jennings and Stephen J. Nesbitt of The Athletic recently put out their rankings of the best cores of the postseason contenders. The Tigers came in dead last.
Despite having the best ERA in the second half of the season, the writers are not convinced that the cinderella story of a pitching staff can keep it up in the playoffs. At least, there isn't enough evidence to go off of to be too confident about their turnaround sticking.
"Detroit's pitching staff is a bunch of moving parts revolving around a Cy Young favorite in Tarik Skubal. Reese Olson pitched well in the first half but was hit hard earlier this week in his first start back from the injured list," said Nesbitt and Jennings. "How manager A.J. Hinch might try to piece it together in October is anyone’s guess, but he’s somehow been making it work this past month. Maybe he can keep that magic going for a few more weeks."
Skubal might be the only 'sure thing' in this staff, but he's a very good one.
The 27-year-old has a great shot at the triple crown this season and should be fine on the big stage of the playoffs.
Outside of him, though, have been some less consistent performances.
Detroit recently made a major move to try to provide a boost to their pitching staff by calling up top prospect Jackson Jobe for the final stretch of the regular season.
Jobe isn't joining the rotation right away, though, rather expected to work out of the bullpen.
The relief options for the Tigers have maybe been even better than the rotation, but most of their elite arms over the last few weeks have been southpaws.
Tyler Holton has posted a 0.70 ERA over his last 19 appearances, the best of the pen. Five guys in total have had at least 20 innings pitched in the second half and maintained a sub-3.00 ERA.
Maybe if things go south with their starters and Jobe handles his big league debut well, the rookie could see the nod for a start. That doesn't seem super likely, though.
Detroit has some serious work to do in terms of putting together a viable plan with a bunch of unproven talent. Though most people probably expect them to cool down, they've proven the majority wrong before.
