By Joe Browne

As we enter the final weekend of the regular season, the Detroit Tigers are in prime position for a postseason berth. Now imagine reading that sentence at any point a month ago, crazy right ? That’s right there is exactly what makes Major League Baseball such a joy to watch folks. A team who had little expectation, looked dead and buried headed for another October-less season is suddenly going to make the postseason. This whole turnaround started on August 11th when they were in danger of getting swept over four games against the Giants. Since that win on that Sunday afternoon, Detroit has been the best team in baseball. 

The pitching has led the way posting a 2.60 ERA since that day which is the best in baseball. It has been spearheaded by arguably the best pitcher in the world, Tarik Skubal. Detroit had hoped Skubal would step into the ace role this year and boy has he. Skubal will be taking home the AL Cy Young award this winter and rightfully so. The bullpen has also been exceptional behind him as Foley, Holton, Vest, Brieske, Guenther and Hanifee have led the way. Yes, I just named six guys who have been exceptional out of the Detroit ‘pen this year. Only further proving my point as to how truly dominant the bullpen has been all year. Oh, and they just called up top prospect Jackson Jobe who is going to be an absolute stud. Expect to hear that name a whole lot for years to come. Now, I want to focus on the offense just since this run started on August 11th. When healthy Kerry Carpenter has been amazing this year but especially during this run. He has hit .295 with nine homers over the course of this run. Only further proving that Carpenter is the most underrated player in the game. He has not done it alone as Parker Meadows, Matt Vierling and Colt Keith have provided this lineup a huge lift over the course of this run. 

What makes this whole thing so interesting is the fact that it truly did come out of nowhere. Sometimes, when teams see a chance to make the playoffs even if they have a losing record they choose to buy at the deadline. The Tigers did not do that. They did not make any moves of note at all. However, somehow, someway, they are here and are going to play postseason ball this year. They have brought the energy as well and are truly a treat to watch. Just today, the go-ahead run was scored on an 8th inning sac fly and when Matt Vierling dashed home to score he got very animated and pumped up the Motor City faithful. Magical runs like the one the Tigers have ripped off over the last six weeks are truly what makes baseball so fun to watch. You just never know what is going to happen next. The best part about all of this, this team is so young and going absolutely nowhere anytime soon. It has been a full decade since the Tigers have made the playoffs but as we enter the final weekend, that is about to change.