The White Sox came to Detroit this week with visions of clinching the AL Central. And who could blame them? Chicago had bullied the Tigers for most of the year. They had bullied them last year, and the year before that. This would be a proper place to put the division to bed. But somebody woke up the Tigers.
On Monday, Detroit erased a 3-0 deficit against AL ERA leader Carlos Rodon before carving the winning run off All-Star Craig Kimbrel in the eighth. On Tuesday, Detroit erased a 2-0 deficit, squeezed every drop out of a depleted bullpen and rallied for the winning runs in the seventh. Wednesday will be washed out, which is fine. The Tigers have already rained on Chicago's parade.
"Our team finds ways to win," said A.J. Hinch. "We put pressure on the opponent."
Against good teams, this is what the Tigers do. Now the White Sox understand. Detroit is 38-33 this season against teams above .500, good for a winning percentage of .535. Only five teams have fared better against winning teams, and they happen to be the five best teams in baseball: the Giants, Dodgers, Rays, Brewers and Astros.
Wouldn't you know it, the Tigers are 12-6 (.667) against the Astros, Brewers and Rays. The juggernauts out West have gotten off easy.
"We’ve been doing this all year," rookie Matt Manning said last week after pitching Detroit to a win over Milwaukee. "We play really good teams very, very well. It just goes to these guys how much they like to play and how much we like to compete. I think it's really good for us. We’re here to compete -- not to lay over."
September is when lots of teams lay over. It's when teams out of the playoff race tend to ease off the gas. The Tigers have been out of the playoff race since May. They've only pushed harder this month. Detroit is 8-3 against first-place teams in September, with three more games against the White Sox to close out the season. On the year, the Tigers are 18-15 against first-place teams and 27-22 against playoff teams.
They're on track to finish above .500 against winning teams for the first time since 2014.
"You can’t just turn it on and off daily," said Hinch. "You have to be prepared every day for when the opportunities arise, and I love that about our team. We keep staying in there. And the days that we can apply pressure because the opportunity comes up, we’ve practiced it, we’ve prepared for it. We have no fear. We may make a mistake or two, but it’s OK because we’re going to keep coming at you. That’s a proud feeling as a manager to have a team that buys in like that."
There's an obvious caveat here, a yeah, but retort to the Tigers' record against winning teams: they're 36-45 against everyone else. The White Sox have a losing record against winning teams; they're about to win the division because they've pasted everyone else. Generally speaking, good teams tread water against good teams, and lap the bad ones. The next step should be natural for the Tigers, who already thrive in the deep end.
"I’m just proud of our guys for buying into everything we’re talking about and then going out and doing it," Hinch said last week. "The confidence has grown. I think we do have a chip on our shoulder when we play the good teams. We've had some lulls against teams that aren’t as good, but 162 games is going to expose any and all deficiencies and things you need to work on."
This wasn't a message to Al Avila and Chris Ilitch. It didn't need to be. Upstairs and across baseball, the message has been received: the Tigers are closing in on contention. The gap can be erased this offseason, like a pair of leads this week for the White Sox. Ilitch is ready to spend, his team is ready to add and this is the winter to make the Tigers a winner.