It's Memorial Day And The Detroit Tigers Are A Game Out Of First

Something is different. Will it last in 2023? Probably not, but something is different.

The Tigers were 10-17. The offense was inept. The pitching banged up, and they were headed into another challenging part of the schedule. The writing was on the wall: another 100+ loss season, another year of the rebuild. It was a sad movie we'd seen a million times. Then...they just decided to start playing well. That's a very simplistic way of explaining it, but it's true. Everything we'd seen over these last several years just stopped being for a minute. Don't get me wrong, there are still massive holes on this roster. It is, objectively speaking, one of the weaker offenses in baseball (even though it is night and day compared to last year's dumpster fire.) The starting pitching is still injured, though they've gotten great outings by Eduardo Rodriguez and Michael Lorenzen. The team is under .500. The flaws are apparent. Right now, the fans don't care. Nor should they.

This most recent series of baseball at Comerica Park was one of the most electrifying that we've seen in years. They took 3 to 4 against the White Sox, including two come-from-behind victories that they earned after blowing leads in the 7th inning. Riley Greene has turned the corner and is becoming one of the best young players in baseball. Zach McKinstry, who the new President of baseball ops, Scott Harris, picked up off the scrap heap, is having an all-star caliber season (You read that right, look at the numbers.) The bullpen has been fantastic, anchored by Alex Lange, the most underappreciated reliever in baseball right now. Oh yeah, they are also a game out of first in their division.

This is a Detroit Tigers team that lost 96 games a year ago and hasn't been this close to first place in a long time. Are they below .500? Yep. Is this a lousy division? Absolutely. No one said it's sustainable, but it is fun. And yes, it is fun. If your definition of fun when it comes to baseball is only having a team winning 100+ games every year and making it to the World Series, then I question whether or not you're a baseball fan. And I'm sure so many of us will look back and laugh at this stretch and roll our eyes at how much we hyped them up, but if there's one sports team in baseball right now that deserves the slightest bit of hope, it's the Detroit Tigers. 

Only time will tell if the 2023 version of the Detroit Tigers legitimately has a magic streak in 'em. But even if this team isn't different, the organization and energy are. Because the truth is you can lose baseball games and still play winning baseball, but winning baseball is not something we've seen here very often over the last 7-8 years. The fruits of Scott Harris' labor might not be seen here for a while, but a spark has been lit. 

You may not always win, Detroit. But you're not losers anymore.