Tigers’ latest win can’t hide the ugly truth about their season

Like every other night this summer, I set aside time from 7-11 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 2 to watch the Detroit Tigers play the Minnesota Twins. And like every other night this summer, I knew that just because the Tigers were up by multiple runs in the eighth inning, they could easily give the game away at any moment. 

The team has been known to lose games in the final stretch. The Tigers have lost 13 games this season when holding an advantage after seven innings. Their 30 blown saves rank among the most in the league, and it’s almost become expected for Detroit to let teams come back in the final innings. 

The Tigers’ Wednesday night win over the Twins nearly followed the same script. They ultimately won 11-6, but only after Minnesota closed a three-run gap to send the game into extra innings. The Tigers’ defense took the field up 5-2 in the bottom of the eighth. One out and three pitchers later, the Twins had tied the game at five apiece and swung the momentum entirely back in their favor. 

With no runs scored in the top of the ninth, the Tigers were now fighting for a 10th inning rather than easily coasting through the end of the game with a safe lead. If it weren’t for a nicely timed two-run home run courtesy of Spencer Torkelson, the Tigers certainly might have managed to give the Twins their comeback win. 

The win puts the Tigers at 64-75 and ended a three-game losing streak. Mathematically, they can still sneak into the last AL wild-card spot with 23 games left. However, if Wednesday’s game showed anything, it gave yet another example that the Tigers’ 2026 campaign is virtually over. 

Tigers are close to contending

The most painful part is that the Tigers are incredibly close to being a contending team. The hitting core, punctuated by Kevin McGonigle (.271, 141 hits and 86 runs) and Riley Greene (.269, 116 hits and 65 runs), was one of the best in MLB at the start of the summer. The Tigers led the league with 49 home runs in June, tying for their most in a single month in franchise history. That trend continued into July with 34 home runs, and the team was comfortably hitting .252. 

Despite their hitting strength, the Tigers have been let down by their subpar pitching time and time again. Trading Tarik Skubal was undoubtedly going to worsen their playoff chances, and sending Casey Mize to the San Diego Padres certainly didn’t help either. Without those two in the pitchers’ room, the Tigers’ already underwhelming bullpen became even more unreliable in August. 

Keider Montero and Troy Melton (3.24 and 2.20 ERA, respectively) have tried to keep the season alive, but the lackluster bullpen has almost single-handedly cost the Tigers entire games. This downward trajectory showed itself in Skubal’s last home game as a Tiger on July 29. When he left the mound in the top of the seventh, the Tigers were up 7-1. Instead of keeping the lead, the bullpen allowed the Orioles to come back from a six-run deficit and later complete the comeback in the 12th inning. 

Any time a reliever comes into the game, the Tigers’ chances of falling apart skyrocket. Usually when the bullpen dragged its heels, the batters could keep the team competitive. That changed in August as the Tigers’ batting productivity plummeted. After two efficient months, the team dropped to a .228 batting average in August and hit 22 home runs. Team leaders McGonigle and Dillon Dingler hit slumps at nearly the same time, batting .111 and .179, respectively, since Aug. 24. 

The Tigers’ 23 remaining games include another series against the Twins and two road trips against the Chicago White Sox and Cleveland Guardians, the top two teams in the AL Central. The Tigers are not officially eliminated from the postseason, but with their recent performances, the strength of their remaining opponents and the continuous injuries — especially the absence of Kerry Carpenter with a foot injury — they are at a significant disadvantage in taking that final wild-card spot.