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The Detroit Tigers (82-74) weren’t supposed to be here. But with a week left in the regular season, they’ve become baseball’s most dangerous underdog.
Tied for the second AL wild-card spot with the Royals, Detroit is surging at just the right time — echoing the improbable 2003 Marlins, who turned a September hot streak into a World Series title.
Now, these Tigers are playing with the same fearless energy, and they’ve got the talent to prove their run isn’t a fluke.
Entering Monday, FanGraphs gives Detroit the best odds among AL Central teams to clinch a wild-card berth, putting their chances at 70.8%, ahead of Kansas City (68.5%) and Minnesota (53.8%).
Like the 2003 Marlins, who had an average lineup age of 26.9, these Tigers are incredibly young. On Sunday, Detroit fielded a starting lineup with an average age of 24.6 years.
The lack of veteran experience, which can be a disadvantage for many teams, has instead become a strength. They’re too young to feel the weight of a postseason chase, too naive to know they’re not supposed to be this good.
“We just kept winning games,” right fielder Kerry Carpenter told MLB.com’s Jason Beck after Sunday’s win. “So that’s what we’ll keep doing now. Not going to grasp at anything or chase anything. We’re just going to go out there and play like we can play. When we do that, we play well. We have a bunch of guys here that can play baseball and win games in the big leagues, so it’s fun.”
Leading the charge for Detroit is ace Tarik Skubal, whose dominance this season has put him in the conversation for the Cy Young Award. Skubal’s latest outing — a five-inning, seven-strikeout gem — pushed his record to 17-4 while lowering his AL-leading ERA to 2.48.
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