Tigers blew an enormous lead in the AL Central, while the Mets are on the outside looking in.
As September dawned, a Major League Baseball stretch drive virtually devoid of tension loomed. Yet the abject failures of a handful of front-running teams have suddenly made the final week of the season cause for Dramamine binges, not champagne showers.
For that, we can largely thank the Detroit Tigers, on the verge of blowing one o the biggest leads in baseball history.
The Tigers led the Cleveland Guardians by 15 ½ games on July 8, by 12 ½ games on Aug. 25 and 8 ½ games on Sept. 11. Yet that advantage is almost all gone.
Cleveland reeled off a 10-game winning streak, pushing its September record to 15-1, just as the Tigers were losing eight of nine and 17 of their last 24, to trim the Guardians deficit, stunningly, to one game.
Sept. 21 brought relief, kind of, to the Tigers: Sure, they lost their sixth in a row and ninth in 11 games as Atlanta completed a sweep, but the Guardians lost – finally. Minnesota salvaged the final game of a four-game series, keeping the Guardians at bay long enough for the teams to begin a three-game showdown at Cleveland, beginning Sept. 23.
“I don't see our guys quitting,” Tigers manager A.J. Hinch told reporters after the Braves completed their sweep. “ I don't see our guys down. I don't see our guys pouting. I don't see our guys conceding.
“I'm going to remind everybody that we're a first-place team. We're going to wake up tomorrow in first place with our destiny controlled by us.”
At least for the moment. The Tigers-Guardians three-game tilt highlights a growing list of things to watch for in the final week of the regular season:
Tigers-Guardians: It can’t happen – can it?
Never mind having a beefy lead in the AL Central – the Tigers were the finest team in the land a little more than two months ago.
They were 59-34, three games better than any other team in baseball on July 8, a date that will apparently live in infamy. After that, the Guardians began a blistering 44-23 streak – and the Tigers lost 11 of 12, pulling them back to the pack.
What now?
Well, Cy Young Award favorite Tarik Skubal will start Tuesday’s series opener, but that didn’t much matter four days ago, when the Guardians held Detroit to one run while Skubal was in the game – and then won it off the Tigers bullpen to complete a startling three-game sweep.
Yeah, it appears nobody’s coming to save the Tigers. Meanwhile, the free and easy Guardians just celebrated Jose Ramirez’s fourth career 30-30 season. They’re handing the ball to a fellow named Parker Messick, who debuted Aug. 20 and posted a 2.08 ERA in six starts.
And still, getting it all done without pitchers Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz, still indefinitely on leave as MLB investigates potential gambling improprieties.
Somebody’s loose. Somebody’s tight. There’s no better narrative for the final week of the season.
Tiebreaker: The Guardians can clinch the season series and tiebreaker over the Tigers with one win in the three-game series. Cleveland finishes at home with three games against Texas, while Detroit travels to Boston.
NL wild card: Mets’ collapse complete?
It’s been apparent for a while that, despite the MVP-caliber heroics from Juan Soto, that the New York Mets aren’t a particularly great team. They started 45-24 and are 35-52 since, partially gifting the NL East to the Phillies and begging someone, anyone, to come take that third and final NL wild card spot from them.
And in the most mediocre season for the NL in recent memory, the Cincinnati Reds finally decided they were up to the task.
They swept the No. 4 seed Chicago Cubs in four games over the weekend – their first four-game win streak in nearly two months to equal the Mets’ 80-76 record. Cincy posted a pair of 1-0 triumphs over the Cubs, with Hunter Greene posting his first career shutout.
The Mets can only dream of such veteran mound work. They emptied the minor league system in the past three weeks, and Nolan McLean, Jonah Tong and Brandon Sproat have done what they can.
Yet despite the $765 million outlay for Soto, the roster remained flawed, particularly on the pitching side. And now they have both the Reds and Arizona Diamondbacks – just a game behind both – ready to make the first year of Soto a sunk cost.
Tiebreaker: The Reds hold the tiebreaker over the Mets and finish with three at home against Pittsburgh and three at Milwaukee. The Mets play three at the Cubs and three at Miami. Arizona, which finishes with a home series against the Dodgers and at San Diego, would hold the tiebreaker over the Mets but not the Reds.
Are the Astros done?
If the playoffs started today – and heck, that’s not such an exaggeration anymore – the Astros would not be participating. Stunning, really.
And not just because the Astros have qualified for postseason baseball eight consecutive years and qualified for seven consecutive ALCS and won a pair of World Series in that span. Those rooting all that time on the Astros’ demise may finally have their day.
But the stunning part is how hosted the Seattle Mariners in a showdown series for, essentially, the AL West title and got trucked by the Big Dumper and Friends, a sweep in which Seattle outscored Houston 17-7.
And now the Mariners are three up with six to play in the AL West and hold the tiebreaker. So, wild card?
Well, Houston’s now tied with Cleveland for the final spot and the Guardians hold the tiebreaker. The Astros are also just a game back of No. 2 wild card Boston, but the Red Sox hold the tiebreaker. And yes, if it comes to that – the Tigers also hold the tiebreaker over Houston.
For the first time in nearly a decade, the Astros reach the final week of the season with their destiny very much not in their hands. They will probably need to win five of six against the Athletics in Yolo County and at the Angels to have a better than puncher’s chance.
Can Cal Raleigh hit 60 home runs?
We can only hope. In a year defined by mediocrity, the Big Dumper reaching yet another unlikely milestone would be more than welcome.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Tigers' epic choke, Mets face reckoning in final week of MLB schedule
Category: Baseball
