It’s rare in baseball that a team comes out of nowhere and makes the playoffs late in the season. Sure, every decade or so a team goes incredibly well and makes things exciting. But more often than not, teams falter in the final eighth of a mile and snatch defeat in the jaws of victory. There are definitely more 1964 Phillies and 1978 Red Sox and 2011 Red Sox than there are 1914 Braves or 2011 Cardinals.

But the 2024 Detroit Tigers are trying to find their way into the record books and the hearts of baseball fans outside the Motor City. As of Aug. 10, the Tigers were 55-63, eight games under .500, and looking forward to 2025 with their young core of players. Sure, they’re still burdened with Javy Báez’s terrible contract; and of course, they’re still trying to figure out what to do with former number one draft pick Spencer Torkelson, who spent time in Triple-A Toledo this summer. But they have this season’s eventual American League Cy Young winner in Tarik Skubal, rising stars Riley Greene and Kerry Carpenter populating the outfield, and rookie infielder Colt Keith, who is slowly coming into form.

Since that August day, Detroit has amassed a 25-11 record and a .694 game winning percentage, which equates to nearly 112 wins. The Tigers still need everything to go their way to move into the final wild-card spot, and the Minnesota Twins have the tiebreaker between the two teams, so the hurdle is that much steeper. But consider that on August 20, even after their winning streak began, they were nine games down. A month later, on September 20, they were tied for last place. Of course, that required mediocre play from the Royals and Twins, and the Red Sox had to lose twice as many games as they won over the same period. But the Tigers also had to play like a playoff contender, and that’s exactly what they did.

As Jeff Passan reported at ESPN, the Tigers have a +62 run differential during this stretch and are 10-2 in one-point games. And home play wasn’t that important, as the young club is 12-5 on the road.

Detroit accomplished all of this after a massive trade deadline sell-off. No longer playing for the Tigers are pitcher Jack Flaherty, who could be one of the Dodgers’ most important pitchers in the playoffs; outfielder Mark Canha, who has found a home in San Francisco; Andrew Chafin, a right-handed reliever helping the Rangers finish their season; and Carson Kelly, who is now catching Chafin’s throws in Texas. It makes no sense that a team that seemingly raised the white flag in August would want to attack in October, but this team is so young and so inexperienced that it simply doesn’t know any better.

The Tigers lost to the Orioles last night and have two more games against the team that currently holds the top wild card spot in the American League. Then they come home for three games to face the ever-peeping Tampa Bay Rays. But the bright spot is that Detroit closes the season with three games at Comerica Park against the hapless Chicago White Sox. Can they accomplish enough in the next five games to make it to the point where all they need to do is beat the White Sox to make the playoffs? Only time will tell.

If the past is just prologue, if you win nearly 70% of your games in a month of intense competition, if you have the best pitcher in the world in your rotation every five days, if you have a core of players who don’t know this isn’t supposed to happen for a year or two, and/or if you have one of the best managers in baseball calling the shots and motivating his team, then maybe it’s time for Tigers fans to book tickets to Houston, where they would play the first round of the playoffs. AJ Hinch back in H-Town with a chance at redemption and maybe even some just punishment? That’s almost too much to ask.