The past few season have not been fun for Detroit Tigers’ fans, but the future is starting to look bright.
In the 2021 Major League Baseball season, fans would never have suspected the Tigers would be one of the top three teams in the American League Central Division. Yet that is where they find themselves, two-and-a-half games back of the Cleveland Indians for second place in the Central Division.
The Tigers have gotten help from a lot of young players. However, the veteran presence of Miguel Cabrera has been important for the Tigers as well. Recently, Cabrera had an incredible performance consisting of four hits and three runs batted in to help the Tigers’ 5-1 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates at PNC Park.
After losing the first two contests in the three-game series against the Pirates, the Tigers fell to 66-75 with 21 games left in the season and avoided getting swept by the third-worst team in baseball.
While this seems less like an accomplishment, it’s better than the numbers the Tigers have put up in previous years.
Over the last four consecutive seasons, the Detroit Tigers were statically one of the worst teams in Major League Baseball. In the prior two years, the Tigers have come in last in the American League, bouncing between statuses as the third-worst team and the fifth-worst once again. In the past, there weren’t any real signs of progress.
This year started out looking worse for the tigers.
After starting with a dreadful 3-18 stretch that dropped them to 9-24, the Tigers were the worst team in MLB by 3.5 games. It seemed like the teams were going to receive a No. 1 overall pick. The Detroit Tigers would miss the postseason for the seventh straight consecutive year.
Since the Tigers have been without Matt Boyd and Spencer Turnbull for most of the season, it is nothing less than a miracle what A.J. Hinch and the tiger staff have managed to clutch out of this group.
In his first season as manager, Hinch, quoted on the Forbes about the season, said, “we’re not done with our schedule yet…we want to focus on finishing the season on a good note and [writing] a good ending to our story this year.”
With their achievement of a third-straight victory over the Baltimore Orioles on Aug. 12th, the Tigers managed to secure a tie for second place with the Cleveland Indians for some time. While being 15 games behind the Chicago White Sox and four games behind the Cleveland Indians, the most the team could manage was to clinch second place in the division.
Their first time as a runner-up since 2016 is an extraordinary achievement for the Tigers.
Even though it’s not a clear path, baseball fans in Detroit appreciate the team’s performance this season. Everyone is finally ready to see this team take a turn for the better and aim for the city to have a championship.
The Tigers finally have something to play for, and for the first time in many years, it is not another draft position.
DG