Before this strange baseball season began, the Tigers told us they were aiming for the playoffs. We chalked it up to Opening Day optimism. To the hope that comes with a fresh start.
We're guessing you did, too.
Now it's September and this plucky ballclub is two games out of the playoffs.
It brings us back to 2016, the last time the Tigers entered the final month of the season with hopes of playing in October. It brings us back to 2006, that storybook season when baseball was reborn in Detroit.
And it brings us back even further than that.
"It's 1987 all over again: you gotta chase down Toronto," MLB insider Jon Morosi told 97.1 The Ticket Friday morning. "That's it. Obviously it's a very different situation. We just need to see who this year's Scott Lusader and Jim Walewander will be."
You remember 1987. The Tigers entered the stretch run of the season in a neck-and-neck playoff race with the Blue Jays. Toronto had a 3.5 game-lead with eight games to go. The Tigers shaved it down to one entering the final series of the season -- a three-game set with the Jays.
And you remember what happened from there. Detroit took all three games in Tiger Stadium -- all of them by a single run, the middle game a walk-off win in the 12th inning -- to steal the AL East crown.
33 years later, the Tigers will try to chase down the Jays again. Toronto currently occupies the final AL playoff spot. The race also includes the Twins, who host the Tigers for a crucial five-game series this weekend, and, improbably enough, the Yankees.
But in reality, this is a two-horse race.
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"The Tigers really aren't competing with the Twins. This is one-versus-one against the Blue Jays," Morosi said. "They have to finish better than one team."
Can they? It's a lot to ask. Starting play Friday, Toronto has an 84.7 percent chance of making the playoffs, according to FanGraphs, compared to 17.2 percent for Detroit. The Jays also just loaded up at the trade deadline, bolstering their rotation with Taijuan Walker and former Tiger Robbie Ray.
But if you consider the recent call-ups of Casey Mize and Tarik Skubal, the Tigers have some high-octane arms of their own. Skubal and Mize will close out the series against the Twins. And what a series it could be.
"This weekend will be a huge test," Morosi said. "And again, we can actually say it with certainty, the Tigers are playing meaningful September baseball for the first time since 2016. That's a pretty incredible statement overall as we're getting excited about this team again."
There was no shortage of excitement back in '87. The Tigers were just three years removed from a World Series title and were in the midst of their sixth straight winning season. The roster was packed with All-Stars and future Hall-of-Famers. The ballpark was packed with fans.
The ballpark is empty this year. Truth is, it's been empty for a while. The Tigers made the necessary choice to tear the team down and start over, and the fans made the logical choice to stay home. But you get the feeling they're starting to stir. You get the feeling, if circumstances allowed it, they'd be returning to the ballpark, revived and hungry after a long hibernation.
You get the same feeling about this team and where it's headed, possibly in the next few weeks, certainly in the next few years.
"Just think if you've got guys like Skubal and Mize pitching playoff games this year, what that would mean for their development and for the excitement to get fans back in the ballpark next season. To me, it's all positive," Morosi said. "Even if they're just in it, which they are right now, it's a very positive step for the organization."
So it's not quite 1987. But enough with the past, anyway. We've gazed for so long at the glow of the future, and it's finally shining a light on the present. It's 2020, it's September, and the Tigers are in a playoff race. Maybe we should have believed them from the start.
