It turns out the Tigers have been extremely unlucky on offense (and it will change)

The Tigers' unsightly losing record in their first two(ish) weeks of the regular season has taken a lot of wind out of fans' sails. With their 3-1 loss on Thursday, they slipped to the very bottom of the AL Central.

There's been a lot to be concerned about so far. Only two Tigers hitters have been consistently productive, middle relief has been pretty terrible, defense has been even worse, and every member of the Tigers rotation has put up at least one bad start.

It's hard to find much of anything to be optimistic about there, but some underlying offensive metrics might offer some relief to the frustration we're all feeling.

Through these first 13 games, the offense has been getting pretty unlucky. They aren't whiffing much — we've seen some nice strides in plate discipline from strikeout king Riley Greene, for example — and are making quality contact, but balls you'd think would drop were making outs on unlikely plays or park factors.

Bad luck is just a part of baseball, but it also can't last forever. The Tigers are mostly doing what they should be doing, but they're still waiting for a few things to start going their way.

Underlying metrics may offer some explanation for struggling Tigers offense

Of course, the Tigers have also been on a losing streak since their first eight games. They dropped their last game against the Cardinals and then were swept by the Twins, of all teams, and they can't blame all of it on bad luck.

Casey Mize pitched a bad start in the opener in Minnesota, and the Tigers struck out 11 times. Skubal was shaky in the second game, and the Tigers struck out 14 times. Framber Valdez was uncharacteristically awful ... but at least the Tigers struck out less (six times). They were outscored by Minnesota 22-12 and went 11-for-53 with runners in scoring position through the series.

But through the Twins series, the Tigers' 25% whiff rate makes them one of the better teams in the league in that regard. They're also fifth in xwOBAcon (expected weighted on-base average on contact).

It's hard to find reasons to be optimistic — we get it, we're in the exact same boat — and the absence of luck is hardly a good enough excuse, but we'll give the Tigers a little grace, for now, and hope more good fortune finds us.