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

Schedule

Moving forward, the Detroit Tigers have plenty of challenging games on the schedule.

The team has upcoming series against the Los Angeles Dodgers, the aforementioned Yankees and the Colorado Rockies.

Detroit has shown well against strong competition in the past, taking two of three from the Houston Astros in the Motor City before nabbing two of three in the Bronx in consecutive series.

Both the upcoming series against the Dodgers and Yankees will come in Detroit, where the Tigers are 29-28 this season.

That mark isn’t anything to write home about, but it is significantly better than the 24-37 road record for Brad Ausmus’ team.

Additionally, the Tigers also play 10 of the team’s final 49 games against the Chicago White Sox and Oakland Athletics. Miguel Cabrera and company will also match up with the Minnesota Twins seven more times.

Minnesota may be ahead of Detroit in the Wild Card Standings this season, but the Tigers are 7-5 against their American League Central rivals in 2017.

In Conclusion

Sure making the playoffs may not be the most likely of outcomes—FanGraphs does have the team’s playoff odds at 0.4 after all—but crazier things have happened.

The Tigers aren’t a perfect team, but they have an offense that when right can score runs with the best of them.

Detroit also has Justin Verlander and Michael Fulmer each throwing once every five days, which should keep an excellent chance to win at least 40% of the games they play in.

Next: Long-term successors for expensive veterans

In a season when .500, or barely over, could get a team into the playoffs, the Detroit Tigers have a shot, they just need some breaks to fall their way.