What Have We Learned so Far: Detroit Tigers Edition

The dog days of summer are upon us, and the season has reached the point that fans and players alike can no longer say "The season is still young." So it's a good time to see what we've learned about the teams in the AL Central, and what it'll mean for the divison race in the second half of the season. We'll start off with the division leading Detroit Tigers. Detroit—46-38   What Was Expected The Tigers came into the season expected to compete for the division and possibly the American League if the pitching staff could do enough to keep the offense within striking range. That meant that Justin Verlander would need to rebound from his sub-par 2008 campaign, and guys like Fernando Rodney and Joel Zumaya would need to stabilize the back end of the bullpen. The big bats for the Tigers were expected to continue to produce the way they did last year. Guys like Granderson, Cabrera, and Ordonez were expected to do the heavy lifting. While Inge, ...