Detroit Tigers: Can the Team continue to AL success?

After Saturday’s win over the Kansas City Royals, the Detroit Tigers record is  14-18 and they are in second place in the American League Central Division. Can they continue to beat central division foes or are they doing this with smoke and mirrors?

The Detroit Tigers saw Jordan Zimmermann give his best game of the year on Saturday against the Kansas City Royals. Zimmermann pitched five scoreless innings while giving up two hits and striking out five.

It was Zimmermann’s second great outing in a row. Tigers pitching gave up only one earned run in another quality outing by the Tigers pitching staff. Matthew Boyd (1-2) is projected to start Sunday’s series finale against the Kansas City Royals.

On Saturday, May 5th, the Detroit Tigers knocked in three runs on 12 hits. Every starting Tiger had at least one hit with the exception of JaCoby Jones and Jeimer Candelario who went hitless.

The Tiger offense was led once again by Nicholas Castellanos who had three hits in five at-bats. Castellanos had one RBi and scored once.

It has been a promising series for Victor Martinez who had two more hits and drove in one run while scoring once. For the Tigers to win Martinez must hit and drive in runs. Victor currently has 14 RBI and is tied for third overall on the team.

Overall Detroit Tiger batting averages continue to rise. Less than a week ago, half of the Tigers had batting averages under .220.

Now that number is down to four and includes only two starting players. Every other Tiger is hitting .250 or better. As remarkable as it sounds, the Detroit Tigers have the 6th best overall batting average in all of major league baseball.

In a year with the lowest overall batting averages since 1968, the Tigers stand at .254 and are tied with three other teams for the lead. In a rebuilding year, the question remains are they for real and can they maintain this lofty statistic?

Fortunately, the Tigers are not the only team in a rebuild mode this year. While many teams have declared themselves in this mode, many other teams should be rebuilding. The season, however, is still in its early stages. Teams such as Minnesota and Baltimore look good on paper but are bringing up the rear with two of the lowest MLB batting averages.

Next: Exploring a Jose Iglesias to LA Trade

For a team that was built for this year’s post-season Minnesota currently, stand only a half-game behind the Tigers in The American League Central.

The Tigers now depart for games in Texas and then meet Seattle and Cleveland at home. Detroit Tiger Fans soon have a good idea of how good this team is or whether this has been done with smoke and mirrors.