Tigers Face Crucial Nine-Game Stretch in Wild Card Race

Insert the Rob Schneider “We suck again” GIF from The Waterboy here.

That’s what it feels like for Tigers fans right now.

After exploding out of the All-Star break, Detroit didn’t let trading its top two pitchers get in the way. The Tigers stormed all the way back from being 16 games under .500 in May to just one game under .500 while holding sole possession of the final American League Wild Card spot.

Then came the Chicago White Sox.

The White Sox entered Comerica Park like it was their old home, embarrassing Detroit for three straight games in front of its home crowd.

Detroit then traveled four hours east to Pittsburgh, where it ultimately dropped two of three. The rubber match was an even more embarrassing loss, as the Tigers gave up three home runs over the final three innings and surrendered a game they had a stranglehold on all day long.

Now, Detroit heads to Kansas City.

The Royals sit as the third-worst team in the American League with a 54-74 record, while the Tigers enter the series at 61-66 and five games under .500.

Despite the record, Detroit remains just 1.5 games back from the final Wild Card spot.

That makes this upcoming stretch extremely important.

Detroit will need to execute against a divisional foe that had its number the last time these two teams played.

As always, divisional games can be unpredictable. You can throw the records out the window, and this series in Kansas City should be extremely hard-fought by both teams.

The Tigers are 29-35 on the road this season, and they will need to dig deep to win this series.

More importantly, Detroit needs to build momentum before returning home.

Because after Kansas City, things get significantly more difficult.

Following the Kansas City series, the Tigers will return home for a six-game homestand against two of the best teams in baseball.

Detroit, which is 32-31 at home this season, will begin the homestand against the American League's best team, the Tampa Bay Rays.

The Tigers already swept Tampa Bay the last time these two teams met, doing so on the road. That series came directly after Detroit's disastrous 6-22 month of May.

At the time, things looked like they were going to get much worse for the Tigers.

Instead, Detroit rallied and got the wheels moving on what became its comeback trail.

That could mean Tampa Bay has some revenge waiting for Detroit.

It could also mean the Tigers have figured out something about the Rays.

Only time will tell.

However, it doesn't get any easier after Tampa Bay.

Detroit will close out the homestand against Tarik Skubal and the Los Angeles Dodgers.

The Dodgers are the second-best team in the National League, sitting just one game behind the Milwaukee Brewers. After acquiring Skubal at the trade deadline, Los Angeles struggled for a bit, but the Dodgers have since regained their footing.

They enter this stretch 7-3 over their last 10 games and riding a three-game winning streak.

After these two home series, the Tigers will face only one more team with a winning record, the Chicago White Sox, for the remainder of the regular season.

That makes the next nine games even more important.

If Detroit can hold afloat in the Wild Card race over the next week and a half, the Tigers will have a legitimate opportunity to compete for a playoff spot all the way down to the wire.

But the margin for error is becoming incredibly small.

The Tigers have already shown they can climb out of a massive hole.

Now, they need to prove they can stay in the race.

Kansas City provides an opportunity to regain some momentum.

Tampa Bay and Los Angeles will provide the ultimate test.

If Detroit comes up massively short over the next nine games, the Tigers could very well put the final nail in the coffin of their postseason hopes.

But if they can survive this stretch?

Suddenly, the final weeks of the season could get very interesting.