Andy Dirks on how the Tigers’ relaxed confidence leads to winning baseball
Andy Dirks, former Tigers player and current TV commentator, talks about what it’s like in the dressing room of a red-hot winning team. Now the whole group is out.
The Detroit Tigers have taken another full game lead over the struggling Minnesota Twins in the race for the American League wildcard.
The Tigers began Tuesday’s baseball game with a 2-1 win over the Tampa Bay Rays, thanks to another brilliant performance from Tarik Skubal, and at that point took a 1½-game lead over the Twins.
Under pressure and in danger of falling one game behind the Tigers, the Twins couldn’t deliver, losing 4-1 to a weak Miami Marlins team that is 41 games under .500. The Marlins scored four runs in the second inning against Twins starter Bailey Ober and never looked back.
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With the Tigers win and the Twins loss, the Tigers are now two full games ahead of the Twins in the wild card standings, with the Twins having the tiebreaker if the two teams finish with the same score. The Tigers’ magic number to knock off the Twins is now four, meaning they need a combination of four wins or losses to officially finish the regular season ahead of them.
Meanwhile, the Kansas City Royals, who like the Twins were suddenly in danger of falling behind the Tigers after seven straight losses, managed to bounce back on Tuesday to beat the Washington Nationals. The Royals outscored the Nationals 8-5 but failed to score a single run in regulation, winning only in the 10th inning when the free runner for overtime scored on an error by Nationals shortstop Nasim Nuñez. The Royals held on until the bottom of the 10th inning to stay tied with the Tigers in the standings. The Royals have the tiebreaker, so the Tigers must beat them by one game to claim the second wild-card spot.
Elsewhere in the American League, there were closer games that the Tigers focused their attention on.
The Seattle Mariners were running out of time to make up ground, losing 4-3 to the Houston Astros despite getting three runs off Astros ace Framber Valdez. The Mariners were up 3-1 after the third inning, but the Astros fought back, scoring a run in the fourth and two in the fifth to win 4-3. The Mariners are now 2½ games behind the Tigers and do not have the tiebreaker, as Detroit has won 5 of 6 games this year.
Finally, the Boston Red Sox stayed in the wild card race by beating the Toronto Blue Jays 6-5, also in overtime. Trevor Story was the first to score in the 10th inning, bringing home Jarren Duran with an RBI double, and the Red Sox scored two more runs before turning the bat over to the Blue Jays. Toronto responded with two runs of their own but could not tie the game, eventually losing by one point. Despite the win, the Red Sox are still 3½ games behind the Tigers with five games left to play, and like the Mariners, do not have the tiebreaker, having lost the season series.
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Although the Tigers suddenly have a good chance of getting a wild-card spot, the margin is very slim. On Wednesday, the Tigers will face a Tampa Bay team again that is technically not out of the playoffs but is five games behind with five games left to play.
Even though the calendar says September and the regular season is still ongoing, the playoffs have already started for many American League teams.
