Detroit Tigers 2017 season: winners and losers so far

Detroit Tigers players have started the season on a positive note. The team is just one game back of Minnesota and Cleveland in the division race and is trending upward as May continues.

Detroit Tigers fans have seen the team get off to an encouraging start to the 2017 season. Despite a few rough patches, the team is in the thick of things in both the division and wild card races.

Entering Friday, the club was just one game back of both playoff spots in the standings.

What’s more, Thursday’s 7-1 blowout win over the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim firmly placed Detroit’s run differential on the upswing.

The result moved Detroit to -1 on the season. While that number doesn’t jump off the page, the Tigers were previously hovering in the negative teens.

Moving forward, it is certainly a good sign to see the run differential moving in the right direction.

All told, the Tigers are in pretty good shape. The team has been without J.D. Martinez up until Friday. Additionally, three Opening Day starters, Miguel Cabrera, Jose Iglesias and JaCoby Jones, spent time on the disabled list.

Taking all the injuries into account—not to mention inconsistent play from Francisco Rodriguez, Victor Martinez and Tyler Collins—the Detroit Tigers are in pretty good shape.

Here are the team’s winners and losers, as it were, so far in 2017.