Home MLB Timid Tigers in trouble already?

Timid Tigers in trouble already?

by Matt Smith

The Detroit Tigers finally got their first win of the season on Wednesday. Their 7-2 victory over the Red Sox snapped a seven-game losing streak which had become the talk of the Majors.

Many, including myself, tipped the Tigers to top the AL Central and a quick glimpse at their roster shows why. With a formidable batting lineup and a solid-looking rotation, they appeared to have a great chance at beating out the Indians for the division crown.

Their opening schedule also gave reason to be optimistic. A six-game homestand against the Royals and the White Sox looked to be a decent opportunity to get some wins on the board (and at the expense of two division rivals), but Kansas City are surprising everyone with their hot start and the White Sox are revelling in confounding their many critics. Swept by the Royals and then swept by the White Sox, the Tigers had the unenviable task of stopping the rot in Boston. When they were shutout in a 5-0 defeat in the opener, Detroiters must have wondered where a win was ever going to come from.

Thankfully for them, the monkey is now off their back, but that is far from the end of the story.  Streaks, whether positive or negative, are always more noticeable when they occur at the start of a season.  So it seems valid to try and look at the Tigers’ start with a sense of perspective; however the obvious question to ask is ‘how many teams have made the play-offs after an 0-7 start’?  MLB.com helpfully provides the answer: none.  Not a single team has ever clawed their way back from such a deficit. 

There’s a first time for everything, I guess.

Quite how much impact the absence of Curtis Granderson is having is hard to quantify, but there’s no doubt that his injury has hurt the Tigers on offense and defense. Granderson was the spark for this offense in the lead-off spot last season and the Tigers have been unable to replace his table-setting qualities. Even in their victory last night, Detroit had to resort to putting Pudge Rodriguez at the top of the batting card, hardly ideal while he’s sporting a .161 batting average.

Many of the other Detroit batters have started with a stutter so far, including the marquee off-season acquisition Miguel Cabrera (.125). Granderson’s return (possibly still two weeks away) should help right the ship, but he cannot wave a magic wand and get everyone else’s bats going.  And magic or divine intervention might already be required, even though the new season has barely get off the ground.

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