OT Tiger's Magic Number 2ish after another improbable comback
Raburn and Avila hit pinch hit homers in 9th to erase a 3 run deficit and Tigs win it in the 10th.
4 sweeps in a row, whouda thunk it.
Longest winning streak since 1934.
Edit: my bad on magic number, I didn't realize Cleveland had battled their way back into second.
ESPN rates the Tigers as 100% chance of making the Playoffs.
Even Jimmy Leyland admitted in the pre-game he expected Tigers to make playoffs.
September 14th, 2011 at 5:38 PM ^
than two of these sweeps coming against the White Sox. mmmmmmm sweet delicious White Sox tears.
September 14th, 2011 at 7:57 PM ^
Absolutely nothing has made me happier than being surrounded by White Sox fans the last 2 weeks down in Indianapolis. Too bad they always fall back on their 2005 season still...
September 14th, 2011 at 5:38 PM ^
Actually the magic number is three. It will be two if the Indians lose tonight.
September 14th, 2011 at 5:44 PM ^
Correct. For those wondering, formula is:
Games left (13) - lead in loss column (11) + 1 = magic number
September 14th, 2011 at 5:40 PM ^
I hope that Jerry Reinsdorf has the foresight to sign Ozzie Guillen to a contract extension.
September 14th, 2011 at 5:41 PM ^
After listening to the game on the radio any Chicago fan has to be wondering what Ozzie was thinking. He could have either faced Inge, who no disrespect to him but he is a .230 carrer hitter, or face a hot Avila. Seems like a no brainer.
September 14th, 2011 at 6:42 PM ^
You never put the tying run on
September 14th, 2011 at 5:46 PM ^
I was real surprised to find out that the 84 team never had a 12 game winning streak. Guess I kind of figured they would have considering how dominant they were that year.
Also, more importantly than clinching a playoff berth, Detroit now leads Boston for second place in the AL which would mean home field advantage in the first round.
September 14th, 2011 at 5:48 PM ^
We have been through this a couple games ago. Boston is irrelevant, as a Wild Card they will cannot have home field. Texas is the team we need to stay in front of to get HFA
September 14th, 2011 at 5:51 PM ^
But if Boston was to win their first round matchup, we would take home field in both rounds. I should have been clearer as I am aware of the rules.
EDIT: Ok, I am a moron as Detroit would play Boston in the first round if the season ended today.
September 14th, 2011 at 5:57 PM ^
Thing to watch is the Yankees. Tigers are only 4 behind, and they've got 10 with the Red Sox and Rays left, while the Tigers have the easiest schedule of any contending team.
September 14th, 2011 at 9:32 PM ^
but it is nice to have a better record than they have after the end of the season; it just reduces their bitching by one argument. in that respect, we have a half game lead over them after todays games, and have the sencond best record in the AL currently; LAA is 4th overall. (yes, i am that kind of geek to have an excel spreadsheet that calculates all of the relevant numbers.)
to that and assuming that texass beats the mistake on the lake (cleveland), here are the latest magic numbers versus all those concerned:
AL central (basically, its over we win)
Cleveland 2
chisox 1
AL east (basically,seeing if we pass nyy)
NYY 19 (unless they melt down, they will be the 1 seed)
bosox 14 (yeah, it doesn't matter unless nyy melts down)
AL west (basically, playing for 2nd seed)
texass 12
LAA 9
What this all means that we need to keep pace with texass to keep the 2nd seed.
September 14th, 2011 at 11:11 PM ^
It's actually 11 on Texas as if we end up with the same record it just goes to the season series and we have the edge.
September 14th, 2011 at 5:52 PM ^
...but I always found this intriguing.
Winning percentage in first 40 games in 1984: 0.875
Winning percentage for the remaining 122 games: 0.566
It's funny that when you get out to such a huge lead in the beginning, that you can afford to go 69-53 the rest of the way.
Nonetheless, that was an awesome baseball year here in the Detroit area.
September 14th, 2011 at 5:59 PM ^
As the late great Joe Falls pointed out after the 84 World Series, the Tigers had the same winning percentage in the Playoffs as they did in the 35-5 start.
84' was a season long party, the Tigers knew they were the best team, the League new the Tigers were the best and the fans knew the Tigers were the best team. 84' seemed like a season long march to a coronation, most everyone figured the Tigers would be king, and they were right.
September 14th, 2011 at 6:36 PM ^
The first 40 games in 1984 were incredible. We did spend a good part of the rest of the year hoping that the Tigs wouldn't fritter away their incredible lead.
So, I'm really happy for the Tigers. I live in Cleveland and sort of know the Tribe better these days and generally root for them, but now with that little conflict out of the way I am all in for my hometown team. Let's Go, Tigers!
September 14th, 2011 at 11:39 PM ^
This team bears more resemblance to 68 than 84 in a couple respects. The 84 team just put away opponents, grabbing early leads behind Lou and Tram at the top of the order and bringing it home. In 68, the Tigers won 40 games from the 7th inning onward, 30 in their final at-bat (sounding familiar?). Then of course came the Series comeback.
However they choose to do it, another championship will work for me. Bring it on home, boys.
September 14th, 2011 at 6:38 PM ^
No, 84 didn't even match 68's 11 game streak. This 12 game streak is incredible and a good sign heading into the playoffs. I wish the Tigers all the luck in the world.
So, how many wins for Verlander this year? 25? 26??
September 14th, 2011 at 9:40 PM ^
only has 2 more starts, so the most he could have is 25. I'm sure that the Tigers will be more concerned with setting him up to pitch game 1 of the first round of the playoffs than his season win count
September 14th, 2011 at 10:44 PM ^
With a 35-5 start, assuming that none of the losses were back-to-back, that means they had 6 win streaks with an average length of almost 6 wins in a row. So yeah, it kinda is surprising that one of those streaks didn't hit 12. IIRC, after the torid start, they played the rest of the season with a good, but not incredible, winning rate.
September 15th, 2011 at 1:26 AM ^
September 14th, 2011 at 5:59 PM ^
If they don't make the playoffs.
September 14th, 2011 at 6:20 PM ^
Yeah, I'm mostly sure you are going to be just fine.
September 14th, 2011 at 6:29 PM ^
The importance of correct punctuation -- I thought this was going to be a thread about Tiger Woods.
September 14th, 2011 at 6:36 PM ^
Tiger's Magic Member 2" after another improbable conquer
September 14th, 2011 at 6:37 PM ^
Samesies.
September 14th, 2011 at 9:26 PM ^
I hate reading what I write from a grammatical POV. I suck at grammar. Sorry for putting your eyes through such a monstrosity of errors. I try proof reading, but proof reading only further proves my ineptitude
September 14th, 2011 at 6:38 PM ^
Where are all the Haters from the begining of the year?
September 15th, 2011 at 12:37 AM ^
Fire Jerm Leylard!!!
September 14th, 2011 at 7:04 PM ^
This is shaping up to be an amazing run in the playoffs.
September 14th, 2011 at 7:09 PM ^
September 14th, 2011 at 9:39 PM ^
basically stated that verlander was starting every fifth game. they probably noticed that he pitched better staying on that schedule than resting. alos, 25 wins gets him into the MVP discusions with a legitiamte shot at it; less than 25, he gets the cy young only, which has been pretty much conceded to him already.
September 14th, 2011 at 9:08 PM ^
So the magic number is going to reach 2 tonight.
This is gonna be sweet. The Tigers' magic number has reached 1 twice in the last 5 seasons, but never reached 0.
September 14th, 2011 at 9:11 PM ^
Magic number dropping down to two soon.
September 14th, 2011 at 10:27 PM ^
The neat thing about the coverage of this win streak is them telling us how long it's been since the last one of this length:
9 games - not since 1984
10 games - not since 1968
12 games - not since 1934
There seems to be a very enjoyable pattern. I hope the last 14-game win streak was in 1908 or something.
September 14th, 2011 at 11:14 PM ^
It was actually 14 in 1934 anyway
September 15th, 2011 at 11:13 AM ^
Tigers
They could clinch tonight
if cleveland loses and the tigers win
and the sux lose or tigers win
plus the sux and tribe still have a 4 game series against each other
September 15th, 2011 at 4:53 PM ^
What about Leyland in the ninth. Guillen steps to dugout ready to make a change. Leyland has Inge in the ondeck circle and he is announced. Guillen makes a pitching change. Leyland sends Avila in to hit for Inge. Bam!! Two run shot. Great managing for a change. Leyland has been making some great moves as of late.