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The Tigers Are Real, Spectacular and Suddenly MLB's Sweethearts

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Kristie Ackert | Last updated Jul 7, 2025 1:07 PM ET

Jayson Stark watched the first half of the MLB season and came away believing in the Detroit Tigers. In fact, The Athletic's columnist was gushing over them in his latest column of the 10 things he's learned from the first half.

I mean, he titled the section about the Tigers:

“The Tigers are real — and they are spectacular.”

Yes, that’s a Seinfeld quote. And yes, it fits.

Last October, the Tigers snuck into the playoffs and everyone asked how they got there. Nine months later, Stark and the rest of the league are wondering if there are any teams in the American League better than them.

That’s not some early-July overreaction. It’s backed by numbers:

Their 11.5-game division lead entering July? The largest in all of MLB.
It’s also the biggest in the 125-year history of the franchise.
They’re battling the Yankees for the most runs in the American League.
They lead the league in baserunning.
They’re top 10 in defense, and top two in rotation ERA.

Nothing about that screams fluke.

A rival AL executive told Stark:

“Best pitcher in baseball (in Tarik Skubal). Impact manager (in A.J. Hinch). Lots of guys exceeding expectations, like Gleyber (Torres) and (Casey) Mize).”

And then came the kicker:
“If you’re good enough to skip the wild-card round, you’re good enough to win anything.”

This isn’t a hot streak. It’s a real team, built to win real games in October. And if the Tigers keep playing like this, Stark won’t be the last national voice sounding like a fan.

The bandwagon is getting fuller and the Tigers are expecting to take these new fans on a long ride.

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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