For The Fading Tigers, It's Now Or Never
By: Will Burchfield
@burchie_kid
So this is it for the Tigers. This is the week of their reckoning. With seven games to go in the regular season and their playoff hopes hanging by a thread, this team is about to script its own legacy.
Will the 2016 Tigers be remembered as a valiant bunch of vets, who showed the grit and moxie to rise to the occasion? Or a haggard group of has-beens, who petered out over the final mile?
These are simple conclusions, overly so, largely because the Tigers are faced by simple task: make the playoffs, or pack up and head home.
Their pathway to the postseason continues to narrow. Their avenues to October continue to close. Winning the A.L. Central is all but out of the question. Grabbing the first wild card likely is, too. For the Tigers, it's the second wild card or bust.
And in that regard, it's now or never.
Believe it or not, this team still controls its own destiny. If the Tigers win out, they'll guarantee themselves (at the very least) a play-in game next Monday. Here's how.
The Toronto Blue Jays are three games ahead of the Tigers for the first wild card. The Baltimore Orioles are 1.5 games ahead of the Tigers for the second wild card, but only one game ahead in the loss column. The factor working in Detroit's favor is that the Jays and O's play a three-game series beginning Tuesday night.
If Baltimore loses once this week and the Tigers win their remaining games, those two will finish tied in the standings. If Baltimore wins out, thereby handing Toronto at least three losses, and the Tigers also win out, Detroit and Toronto will finish tied in the standings. It's all conjecture at this point, clouded with uncertainty, but the bottom line is the Tigers control their own fate. They can script their own legacy.
But they'd best put pen to paper soon.
As in now. As in tonight.
The time has passed for a far-sighted outlook. The alibi of tomorrow is gone. The Tigers have seven games remaining and must approach each one with a do-or-die mentality. From tonight through Sunday, it's a dead sprint to the finish line.
And when the Tigers catch their breath on Monday, they will do so for a few hours or a few months. The length of this respite is entirely up to them.
Baseball is an honest sport. It holds teams accountable. Detroit has been tortured by the Cleveland Indians all season long, losing 13 out of 15 games to the Tribe. Until recently, it looked like the Tigers could make the playoffs without staring down their divisional demons. As it turns out, they'll have to slay this dragon one way or another.
The Indians have rolled into town for a four-game series, the echo of the rally drum filling the air. And don't expect them to scale back the beat simply because they have a comfortable lead in the standings. Though the playoffs are pretty much a lock for the Tribe, they're still playing for home-field advantage. These games count for them too.
Monday presents a hairy matchup for the Tigers, with Buck Farmer opposing Corey Kluber on the hill. From there, Detroit sends Justin Verlander, Michael Fulmer and Daniel Norris to the mound, by far the team's three best pitchers of late. Combined, of course, that trio has struggled against the Tribe this season, with just two wins in nine starts.
So yes, the Tigers will have to stare down their demons. There's no way around it.
If they succeed, their season will be defined next weekend in Atlanta. But that's too far in the future to be pondered today. The Tigers can't afford to depend on tomorrow. They have to step up right now, in this very moment, or 162 games will all be for naught.
Valiant vets? Or haggard has-beens? They decide.
