David Brandt, The Associated Press
The Detroit Tigers were among the sellers at the MLB trade deadline. At the time, their pessimism was understandable: their 52-57 record and numerous injuries suggested their season was going nowhere.
Their general manager Jeff Greenberg then traded pitcher Jack Flaherty to the Dodgers. Veteran outfielder Mark Canha went to the Giants. Reliever Andrew Chafin and catcher Carson Kelly ended up with the Rangers.
Still, the Tigers have been better since.
Youngsters like Riley Greene, Trey Sweeney, Kerry Carpenter and Colt Keith are having a great month of September at the plate, and left-hander Tarik Skubal is among the favorites to win the Cy Young Award in the American League.
The Tigers have won 11 of their last 14 games to move ahead of the Minnesota Twins for third and final seeding with six games remaining. This race for the playoffs in the American League is proving to be very exciting, after it seemed to be over a few weeks ago.
The Kansas City Royals (82-74) and Tigers (82-74) would be the last two teams to qualify if the season ended Sunday. The Twins (81-75) are one game back, while the Seattle Mariners (80-76) are two games back. All four teams have six games remaining.
“We’ve still got a lot to do, so we’re not going to get upset,” Tigers manager AJ Hinch said.
The Twins have lost 11 of their last 17 outings. The Royals have also taken a nosedive, dropping seven straight games, including the last six at home. Since Aug. 28, they are 7-16.
Bad match at the wrong time
If the Arizona Diamondbacks don’t make the playoffs this season, they’ll remember their collapse in Sunday’s game.
The defending National League champions led 8-0 after three innings against the Milwaukee Brewers and were headed for a sweep of the four-game series. The Brewers came from behind to win 10-9.
It’s the largest lead blown in a loss in Diamondbacks history.
“You can’t give up seven runs in three innings any way you look at it,” D’backs manager Torey Lovullo said. “You’re going to lose a lot of games that way if that’s the kind of performance your bullpen puts out. But these guys don’t usually do that and they’re going to bounce back.”
The race for the National League draft remains tight. The San Diego Padres (90-66) are close to securing a spot, while the New York Mets (87-69) and Diamondbacks currently occupy the final two spots leading into the fall tournament. The Atlanta Braves (85-71), who will host the Mets for a three-game series starting Tuesday, are two games back.
The shallows
The Chicago White Sox tied a post-1900 MLB record for mediocrity by suffering their 120th loss this season on Sunday, matching the 1962 New York Mets.
Chicago’s team still has six games to “beat” the Mets’ mark, who at least had the decency of being an expansion team to explain their poor results.
The irony is that the White Sox could well play spoilsport for the Tigers, who will play their last three games against Chicago.
Goodbye, David
The Cincinnati Reds fired manager David Bell on Sunday after six seasons at the helm. The Reds expected to be in the playoff race this season, but they disappointed with a 76-81 record.
He’s probably not the last manager to lose his job. Skip Shcumacher (Miami Marlins), Derek Shelton (Pittsburgh Pirates) and John Schneider (Toronto Blue Jays) are all among a handful of managers whose futures are unclear.
The White Sox fired Pedro Grifol on August 8 after the team snapped a 21-game losing streak, tying the American League record.
The Mariners fired Scott Servais on August 22. Servais was in his ninth season at the helm of the team.