DETROIT – If the Detroit Tigers somehow make it to the playoffs this season, Monday will be a night none of us will forget.

Jason Benetti and Andy Dirks said it several times during the broadcast on Bally Sports Detroit: “At Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City, it felt like a playoff atmosphere.”

That sentence would have sounded absurd on August 22 – less than a month ago! – when the Tigers had a losing record and were 9.5 games out of the final wild-card spot.

They had just traded Jack Flaherty and several other key players. Reese Olson and Casey Mize were injured. Kerry Carpenter and Riley Greene had just returned after long absences.

Nobody – not even the Tigers themselves – thought at the time that the Tigers could play a role in mid-September.

But somehow, some way, we are here.

The Tigers were 2.5 games behind the Twins on Monday night, but at 8:30 p.m., it looked like that magical run might finally be coming to an end.

With the Twins leading the Guardians 3-0 in the middle innings, Royals star Bobby Witt Jr. hit a grand slam against Olson that put the Tigers behind 4-0.

It looked like the Tigers would fall 3.5 games behind the Twins, which would all but destroy their last playoff hopes (especially since they don’t have the tiebreaker).

But this younger version of the Tigers is never dead. After trailing 5-1 in the fourth, a home run by Colt Keith brought them within one in the fifth. The Royals scored again in the bottom half, but the Tigers scored three more in the sixth to take the lead for the first time.

“The Tigers are leading, and right now Cleveland beat Minnesota 4-3,” Benetti yelled at Bally. “The Tigers are leading 7-6. Minnesota lost tonight, and who knows what our next two weeks will look like.”

Suddenly, the Tigers went from being 3.5 games back to being just 1.5 games out of a playoff spot, closer than they were to sixth place in the wild-card standings on August 22.

Detroit hasn’t been closer than two games to a playoff spot in the second half since its last successful season in 2016. Even in the last four weeks, the Tigers have been only three games behind the Twins most of the time.

But on Monday, in about an hour, the Tigers went from the brink of unofficial elimination to their best position in eight years.

If they can cap this improbable run by making the postseason, it will be a night to remember.

What does it take to make the playoffs?

We talked on Detroit Sports+ about what the Tigers need to do in their final 12 games to make the playoffs. You can view this section below: