Tigers' defensive collapse was a painful reminder of how they got here despite recent hope

By the bottom of the sixth on Wednesday night, the Tigers were still within striking distance despite handing the Blue Jays a two-run lead on a George Springer single an inning earlier. The offense had already established its resiliency in the first game of the series, when they came back from being no-hit through six to win the game.

Drew Sommers got his first batter to ground out, but then his defense unraveled behind him. Three consecutive errors, two from John Peck and one from Kevin McGonigle, ended up allowing two unearned runs to score before the end of the inning. Peck was tagged with a fielding error and throwing error, the latter a particularly ugly toss to second base that ended up in foul territory, and McGonigle a fielding error.

It was the first time the Tigers committed three consecutive errors since July 1, 2006, but far from the first time we've seen unacceptable defense from this team.

Against all odds, the Tigers are still technically in the Wild Card race thanks to their six-game winning streak that was cut short on Wednesday night. With four games against the flailing White Sox coming up, there's a chance they could stage an even more improbable comeback than that of the Gritty Tigs in 2024.

But not if they keep doing what we saw last night.

Tigers' defensive miscues aren't going to get them back into the Wild Card race

There have been so many moments this season when the Tigers hinted that they might be able to turn back into the competitive squad everyone expected this season, and then just ... didn't. There was mid-August, when they were just one game shy of getting back to .500 for the first time since early May, and they couldn't do it.

That particular inter-division gauntlet (three games against the Guardians, three against the White Sox) could've flipped the AL Central on its head. The Tigers lost four of six.

Now, they're five games back of a Wild Card spot with four games up next against the White Sox, who just fell into that last spot after suffering a tragic series loss to the Guardians. If the Tigers could sweep that series — not win, not split, sweep — the standings are going to look different by Monday.

But they're not going to get there if they continue to choke in big moments. Their loss in Toronto was basically they only one they could afford during this last stretch. Shake it off, regroup, and get back out there. Finally do what you couldn't so many times this season.

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