Tigers Continue To Climb Power Rankings After Stellar 5-1 Week

With series wins over the Red Sox and Blue Jays, Detroit became the first team in the sport to reach 30 wins on the season. The Tigers outscored their AL East opponents 39-24 over the week, exploding for 14 runs and then 10 in the first two games against Boston before completing the sweep with a 6-5 win this past Wednesday. Offense came at more of a premium in Toronto, with only 17 runs being scored in the series.

Detroit's only loss came via a walk-off single from Ernie Clement in the bottom of the 9th inning of the middle game of the series.

Though they are only 47 games into their 162-game schedule, the Tigers are all but guaranteed a playoff spot barring catastrophe. Detroit was given a 46% chance to make the playoffs and a 26.8% chance to win the AL Central before the season began, but those odds now stand at 93.1% to make the postseason and 67.8% to win the division.

The Tigers' incredible run to start the season has been achieved through top-of-the-league offensive production and signature pitching performances. The Tigers rank in the top of MLB in batting average (.260), OPS (.757), runs (253), ERA (3.21), WHIP (1.16), and strikeouts by pitchers (412).

Tarik Skubal is continuing his Cy Young chase with a 2.67 ERA over nine starts this season and is still the betting favorite to win the award even after getting touched up by the Red Sox in the series finale on Wednesday when he allowed five earned runs and seven hits while still collecting 11 strikeouts. The left-hander allowed five or more earned runs in a start only once last season and made up for it by only allowing 12 runs over his final nine starts.