Detroit Tigers: Breaking Down the Second-Half Schedule

Detroit Tigers players have so far led the team to a 46-43 record. The Tigers will soon kick off the second half. Here’s a look at what’s ahead for Detroit in the second half.

Detroit Tigers baseball will return to stadiums and television screens on Friday as the team opens a three-game series against the Kansas City Royals. The home set will kick off what will hopefully be a successful second half.

The Tigers’ schedule is heavy on division games, but there are a number of out of division and interleague series worked in. Detroit won’t get a crack at Cleveland, who the Tigers are 1-11 against this season, until mid-September.

Until then, Detroit will work through what is a largely manageable schedule. As it stands, the Tigers are only three games above .500. However, Detroit is 13 games above the .500 mark against teams not from Northeast Ohio.

The Tigers will start things off with 10 division games. If all goes well, Detroit could put some key distance between themselves and the teams looking up at them in the standings. Kansas City and Minnesota will both travel to the Motor City before Brad Ausmus’ club travels to Chicago for four games.

Things get tricky after that as Detroit faces three potential playoff teams in the following four series. A three-game matchup with the Red Sox begins on July 25^th. The Sox’ projected starter for the last game of the series? That would be former Tiger David Price. Detroit will also get a look at knuckleballer and All-Star Steven Wright.

The Tigers could be getting some reinforcements at this point. Not only is the trade deadline just days away, but J.D. Martinez could be back in the lineup.

After the Boston series, Detroit returns home for nine games that include a trio of games against both the Astros and Mets. It’s possible Michael Fulmer could match up with the player he was traded for, current New York star Yoenis Cespedes.