The Tigers had a chance to make up some serious ground on the AL Central leading Chicago White Sox today. Unfortunately, they were only able to come away with a split of the day/night doubleheader. They lost the day game 12-2 behind a terrible outing from Rick Porcello, but gave the Sox some 7-1 payback in the nightcap.
Instead of talking about how awesome Jeremy Bonderman was tonight (and he was indeed awesome), I’m going to explain why the Tigers season isn’t over yet.
First off, it’s still August. Last year, the Tigers had a 7 game division lead on September 6th. We all saw how well that worked out for them.
Second, it’s not like the White Sox are severely outperforming the Tigers in any way. Offensively, their stats are about even. The Sox have scored 25 more runs (not that much over a 100+ game span) than the Tigers. They have hit more home runs, but the Tigers have far more doubles and triples than the White Sox. The pitching is skewed a bit in the White Sox favor, but this likely won’t continue in the tiny ballpark they call home.
The biggest factor in this whole equation is that the White Sox and Tigers still have to play each other 12 more times this year. The Tigers also face the Twins 6 more times. Winning a majority of these games is crucial for the Tigers to get back into the division race. If they can take care of business, they just might be in business come October.
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