Detroit Tigers' Late-Inning Collapses Have Become Too Much to Watch

It has been a season to forget for the Detroit Tigers.

Despite having the fifth-best run differential in the American League (-1), and just a day ago being the only team in the AL Central with a positive run differential, the Tigers continue to find new and frustrating ways to lose baseball games.

Even with what amounts to a .500-caliber run differential, the Tigers find themselves 13 games under .500, nine games back of the division lead, and six games out of the final Wild Card spot with less than half the season remaining.

Tigers fans continue to be baffled because, on a daily basis, this team looks like one that should be winning a plethora of games. That feeling sticks with you through the first seven innings. Then the eighth inning arrives.

For some reason, Tigers manager A.J. Hinch has repeatedly decided to remove one of the best hitters in the lineup for a player batting under .200 in a specialty matchup, only to watch the move backfire. Then Hinch tries to outsmart the opposing team by bringing in a reliever carrying an ERA north of 10 to protect a lead, while removing a pitcher who has been dominating simply to create the matchup he envisioned.

If you're a Tigers fan, this all probably sounds as familiar as fireworks on the Fourth of July.

If you're a new reader trying to figure out what's happening in Detroit, buckle up, because the ride is about to get bumpy.

Going back to a point mentioned earlier, the Tigers are 13 games under .500. They have also lost 14 games when leading in the seventh inning or later.

Let that sink in.

The bullpen—and the decisions surrounding the bullpen—have been so out of sync this season that they resemble trying to push two magnets together with the positive ends facing one another. The win is right there, but no matter how hard you try, the two sides simply never connect.

No other team in Major League Baseball has lost more than 11 games when leading after the seventh inning, and the league average sits at just 6.8.

If the Tigers had simply held onto every late lead they have blown this season, they would be 49-34 and own the best record in the American League at the halfway point.

Instead, the Tigers continue to call on players like Will Vest out of the bullpen or Jehmai Jones in key pinch-hitting situations.

That naturally leads to blame being handed out.

Rightfully, the blame should not rest solely on the players who continue to fall short of expectations. It also belongs with the manager, who continues to make questionable decisions, game after game, that repeatedly put his team in difficult situations.

Take Saturday afternoon's game as the latest example.

A.J. Hinch pulled Drew Sommers, who has now thrown seven scoreless innings this season, and handed the ball to Will Vest in the eighth inning. Vest promptly surrendered three runs, the lead, and ultimately the game.

Since last season, the Tigers are just 25-24 when Will Vest enters a game in the eighth inning or later. Meanwhile, Kenley Jansen has finally begun looking like a competent closer again, despite looking like an old bag of dirt trying to close games earlier this season.

There's simply no reason for Vest to continue being used in these eighth-inning, high-leverage situations when the Tigers have been outstanding in games where he enters in the ninth inning or later, posting a 41-6 record.

The Tigers' late-inning collapses have been damning, to say the least, and the hope that "maybe another magical run can happen" continues to fade with each passing week. The last grasp of air feels like it's happening right now.

The players and coaching staff have to find a better way to close out games. That may mean trusting the untrustable a little more often than anyone would like. It also means A.J. Hinch has to get out of his own head and out of his own way.

This is a team that ranks fifth in the American League in run differential. They've shown they can play winning baseball for seven innings almost every night.

Now they simply have to figure out how to finish the final two.