I'm sorry but that game just made my stomach turn a little.

Chicago loses against the A's. It's JV vs Holland. And we lose like that?

48 left I know but when do we get to first? Will it happen?

I really dont think so. Times running out. Have to beat them up on the head to head match ups.

It's still early.

I don't know who you are, but I like ya!!!

Well, we better do it by October 3rd. We want to avoid that one-game wild card playoff game. That would not be good to already have used JV before the ALDS even starts.

Everyone,

Tigers are still only 1 game out (although 2 out in the loss column).

Look at it this way: Our Tigers had opportunity to sweep Yanks, and be 2-0 against the Rangers this series. Unfortunatly, they blew 3 excellent opportunities ..so instead of 6-0 their last 6 games ..they are 3-3 against the two best teams in the AL. That's not bad at all.

I am a firm believer that things tend to 'balance' out over the course of a long season ..and these last 3 tough losses ..these 3 missed opportunities; ..these situations will eventually go the Tigers way during late August and September when we face our Central division foes.

Again, we'll get there! Just don't give up.

Bingo. You are right. We could be 6-0 against the Yanks & Rangers the last 6 games. And who will we probably face in October? Exactly. Hang in there everybody. We are competitive against the teams we would see in October. We can still win this. Good post.

so it's basically 2 out, because of the loss column, meaning you have to be three better from here on out, after so many games, they still seem to lose the same way, so with 48 left, if Sox go 24 and 24, the Tigers need to go 27 and 21, is that gonna happen ????????????????????????????????????

Under your 24-24 Soxx hypothesis....

That is going to be very close. Very close indeed.

Yes, the loss column is the true baramoter of how many games back a team is. However, Tigers and ChiSox still must play each other 7 more games this year. We are a good enough team to take 5 of those remaining 7 games (5-2). And if we do go 5-2 against Chicago in those games, then this is what it looks like:
Not including the 7 head-to-head matchups ..Detroit will have 41 games remaining and Chicago 43 games remaining.

If we go only 20 - 21 in our 41 games ..Chicago will have to go 23 - 20 just to tie us.

If we go 21 - 20 ..Chicago will have to go 24 - 19 just to tie us.

If we go 22 - 19 ..Chicago will have to go 25 - 18 just to tie us.

If we go 24 - 17 ..Chicago will have to go 27 - 16 just to tie us.

If Chicago ties us ..I like our chances against them in a 1-game playoff for the division title.

You get the picture? Our chances to take the AL Central depend much on what we do against Chicago in our remaining 7 head-to-head matchups.

The Sox are 61-51. Well, actually if the Sox go 24-24 they would finish 85-75. So, I will take your innocent error of math to say the Sox would go 25-25 to finish at 86-76. Tigers are 61-53. So, we would have to go 25-23 to tie the Sox & 26-22 to win the division outright. Can we play 26-22 baseball to win the division? Absolutely. I would be elated if the Sox only play .500 the rest of the way. We can manage to win 26 out of 48 (considering our schedule the last two weeks). But, having to play, say, 30-18 is a worry. Hopefully we can stop the Sox in that away 4-game series in September. We shall see.

Again ..much depends upon what the Tigers do in the 7 remaining games against the White Sox.

That's it in a nutshell. We win 5 of 7 against Chicago and it'll be awful tough on the Sox to win the division. Pure and simple. If we go 4-3 it'll still make it harder on Chicago than on Detroit. But if we go only 3-4 ..we'll probably lose the division and a playoff spot.

I still have Tigrrrs slated to win at least 90 games this year. Don't be a fair-weather fan. Don't wait until they win before you start cheering! Root for the Tigers all the way. Cheer now, as all these games and all these situations are building up to one very exciting September!

Go Tigrrrs.

Little off on games played I was, but, you get the drift, you almost have to hope the Sox collapse so the Tigers don't have to play over their heads

Tigers do not have to play over there heads at all they need to stop giving away games.

Here's the thing (sarcasm, I know you get it)...the other team is trying to win, too...

90 wins is about what it will take, as I expect Chicago to play well to the finish. Bullpen and RISP hitting must improve a bit from this weeks performances to get this done.

It's not quite that bad. The White Sox have two games in hand on us, and thus have 50 to play, while we have 48.

If the Sox go 25-25, we would have to go 25-23 to tie them, 26-22 to wind up on top.

Not bad, but somebody mentioned Chicago has an "easier" schedule as opposed to us.

By the way, I just noticed that NormCash68 addressed the same issue that I did (the difference in Games Played and its effect on the If-Then numbers), a few posts ahead of mine. So give him appropriate credit.

And this is all assuming the Sox only play .500, if they play slightly better, look out, then the Tigers will have to play real well in next 48, I guess the bottom line is you don't change a Tiger's stripes so why should they finish at let's say a 30 and 18 clip, probably/will not happen, so in turn, the Tigers are gonna hope the Sox fall flat somewhere in the next 50