At the July 31st Trade Deadline, the Detroit Tigers were widely regarded as the best team in baseball. They had a stellar pitching rotation led by former Cy Youngs Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander, and right-handers Anibal Sanchez and Rick Porcello added tremendous depth.
Add those talented arms to one of the most powerful lineups in baseball, and they were destined to make a playoff run deep into October. Miguel Cabrera is the best pure hitter in the world, Victor Martinez is having a phenomenal year, Ian Kinsler sets the table better than anyone, and Torii Hunter is that solid veteran that every team needs on the field as well as in the clubhouse.
Then general manager Dave Dombrowski pulled off the unthinkable, acquiring southpaw David Price, one of the most dominant pitchers in the league. The Tigers were expected to do big things before the deadline, but with Price, a World Series championship was almost a foregone conclusion.
Yet, somehow the Tigers have taken a giant step backward. They have been a mediocre ball club in August, going 10-11 this month and losing their lead in the AL Central. Incredibly enough, if the playoffs started today, the Detroit Tigers would be watching it from home.
In other words, they went from being one of the best teams in baseball for the first four months of the season, and then when they acquired David Price, they have fell out of the playoffs.
Nothing has gone right for the Tigers in August, as Justin Verlander landed on the DL for the first time in his MLB career, Anibal Sanchez suffered an arm injury and is no longer in the rotation, and Miguel Cabrera has battled several injuries as well.
The absence of Verlander and Sanchez has made the Tigers' rotation very heavy, not very deep or consistent, and not all that good. After Scherzer, Price, and Porcello, the Tigers are sending out guys who should be either in the bullpen or in Triple-A.
For example, Robbie Ray has been in the starting rotation for about four times around. In those four starts, he has given up at least three runs in all of them and has only pitched five or more innings twice. He sports a horrible 12.27 ERA over those four starts, all losses. Nothing against Ray, he's a 22-year-old with some potential, but when he goes out to the mound, he doesn't really give the Tigers a chance to win at this point.
The offense has been a whole other problem. Previously known as one of the most powerful teams in all of baseball, the home run ball has been almost nonexistant the past two months. Detroit hit 97 home runs before the All-Star break, but only 23 since. That kind of digression is palpable, and the offensive output has plummeted.
The team hit rock bottom on Thursday, when David Price joined Bob Feller as the only pitcher to throw a complete game one-hitter and lose. Returning to Tropicana Field for the first time since being traded away from the Rays, Price was absolutely outstanding. Ben Zobrist reached on an error, and then Price gave up the lone hit of the day, an RBI triple. He got out of the inning only giving up one run, and then he put up zeroes the rest of the day.
However, his teammates could not score a run off of Alex Cobb. The Tigers were shut out, and that loss was one of the toughest to swallow. They got a gem from their newest acquisition, but their offense could not muster any kind of run support.
There is still hope for the season, though. This writer still thinks that the Tigers are going to win their division. They still have two series against the Royals, and it is possible that the Tigers could win all six of those games. They are only a few games behind Kansas City, and the Royals likely have a small slump ahead of them.
The Tigers, on the other hand, are overdue for a hot streak. Justin Verlander is due back very soon, and there is reportedly a chance he could move to the bullpen to shore up the MLB's worst relief group. We doubt that happens, and this author expects he comes back to be a solid starting pitcher.
Even if the Tigers do not win their division, they are currently only 1/2 a game behind the Mariners for the second Wild Card slot. They can easily surpass them, and we like Detroit's chances of winning a one-game playoff with either Price, Scherzer, or even Verlander on the hill.
As the number of games left gets smaller and smaller, the Tigers need a bit of a culture change. They need to stop playing like they are the best team in the league, but start acting like they are in a dogfight for a playoff spot. In the past, they have been comfortably entrenched for October. This year is different, so they can't approach this September as they have the past three years.
Brad Ausmus needs to engender a bellicose attitude in the clubhouse. The Tigers need to fight in every game like it is must-win. If they do that, yours truly thinks they will eventually surpass the Royals for the division lead, and they are going to be a force to be reckoned with once the playoffs come around.