Tigers Clinch the AL Central

The Detroit Tigers have finally clinched the AL Central. They will be representing the AL Central in the playoffs which start in approximately ten days. With the couple handfuls of games left the Tigers cannot ease up. In Major League Baseball, there are two conferences, the American League and the National League. The team with the best record in both conferences gets home field advantage when the playoffs begin. The Tigers are currently only three games back of taking over the top spot in the American League. It is currently led by the Texas Rangers, who the Tigers do not play for the rest of the season.

Personally, I feel with the momentum the Tigers have right now, anything is possible and they may be able to take over that number one spot. Justin Verlander and Jose Valverde complete a solid pitching staff and is pretty much an automatic 2 wins within the next 10 games. Justin Verlander currently has 24 total wins this season and Jose Valverde has 46 saves in 46 opportunities.  It is also possible Valverde has a chance at getting 50 total saves, which is a huge milestone.

As I said in my previous blog posts, I feel the Tigers have what it takes to make the World Series. But they are going to need some of their bats in their lineup to contribute as well. Especially Austin Jackson, he has struck out almost 50% of the time within his past 50 at bats. Hopefully last night’s game of him going 2 for 5 with a homerun and a single is a sign for things to come. To counter the slump of Austin Jacon, Brandon Inge and Ryan Raburn has stepped it up tremendously. Brandon is hitting .440 since coming back from being designated for assignment and Ryan Raburn is hitting .344 in his past 30 games.