Detroit Tigers are down, but not 100% out of playoff contention at this point

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BALTIMORE, MD – AUGUST 05: Justin Upton #8 of the Detroit Tigers celebrates with Nicholas Castellanos #9 after hitting a two-run home run in the first inning against the Baltimore Orioles at Oriole Park at Camden Yards on August 5, 2017 in Baltimore, Maryland. (Photo by Greg Fiume/Getty Images) /

Detroit Tigers fans haven’t seen the season many envisioned. While the Tigers are buried in the Wild Card standings, the team still has the smallest of chances to sneak into the postseason.

Detroit Tigers players entered Tuesday with a 53-65 record and 12 games back in the race for the American League Central crown.

At this point, you can probably wave goodbye to any chance of catching Cleveland, but there’s still a chance—albeit a small one—that the Tigers can claw their way back into the Wild Card.

Now, before we get any further, it should be noted that FanGraphs currently has the Tigers’ playoff odds at 0.4 as of Tuesday.

That’s low, very low. But it isn’t zero.

At the time of writing this, the Tigers are seven games back in the Wild Card.

Additionally, only the Oakland Athletics and the rebuilding Chicago White Sox are below Detroit in the American League Wild Card Race.

However, their isn’t exactly been a team running away with things like the Houston Astros are in the American League West.

The Yankees are probably a decent bet to pencil in as the first wild card given their superior record and run differential, but after that it’s a whole lot of underwhelming teams from a record and run differential.

This is the case so much so that FanGraphs has the Angels, currently tied for the second Wild Card Spot, with a projected 82 wins.

That’s just one game (!) over .500.

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