Kenta Maeda's comments may reveal his fate for spot on Tigers' Wild Card roster

The Tigers' last regular season series against the White Sox was a hangover series if there ever was one. Detroit clinched their Wild Card berth in the series opener and partied hard in the aftermath, if the pictures and soundbites from the clubhouse are any indication. The Tigers pushed Chicago over that storied 120-loss mark, and then promptly dropped the next two games.

The finale was a head scratcher if there ever was one. The Tigers put Kenta Maeda on the mound as their starter, which marked his first start since he was demoted to the bullpen after a 2 2/3 inning, six-run outing on July 9. Not only that, they brought out two other starters behind him in Casey Mize and Keider Montero.

But on Sunday, Maeda was quick to confirm that the Tigers made the right decision to take him out of the rotation in the first place. He pitched 4 2/3 innings and gave up five earned runs on five hits, including a homer, a hit batter, and a walk.

He threw 89 pitches, the most he's thrown in over a month. After the game, a 9-5 loss to the worst team in baseball history, Maeda essentially revealed he knew the writing was on the wall: "I threw close to 90 pitches. I think the chances are slim of me making the (wild-card) roster."

Kenta Maeda didn't seem too optimistic about his chances of making the Tigers' Wild Card roster after latest start

Starting on Tuesday, rosters will shrink back down to 26 from 28, which means two players will have to get the bump. Maeda made a clear-cut case for himself with his Sunday start, so if anything, he made the Tigers' decision-making easier. He pitched two clean innings (the first and the fourth) and struck out five batters, but five runs against the White Sox in less than five innings is plainly unacceptable for a team looking to go deep into October.

The question of whether or not the Tigers retain Maeda into the second year of his contract is still out there. Paying an ineffective reliever $10 million should be out of the question, but we know from experience that the Tigers don't like to eat money.

But their success this season might open a few doors in terms of how much money Chris Ilitch is willing to spend or eat in the offseason to gear up for 2025. Maeda not making the Wild Card roster after being paid $14 million this year should be all the reason the Tigers need to dump him and move on next season., but perhaps they find a way to utilize his arm in some capacity so it's not a complete waste.