Detroit Tigers to miss playoffs?

Following the Detroit Tigers’ 4-2 loss against the Pittsburgh Pirates yesterday, they not only stayed a half game behind the Kansas City Royals, but they fell to a tie for second in the AL Wild Card race with the Seattle Mariners.

Detroit entered the All-Star break at 53-38 and since then have been 10-15. Even with large acquisitions of Joakim Soria and David Price, Detroit continues to struggle.

Since the Tigers acquired Soria to cleanup their disaster of a bullpen, he has given up 6 runs and 1o hits in 4.1 innings pitched leading to a whopping 10.38 in six games pitches for the Tigers. Now, Soria is spending his third day on the 15-day disabled list for a strained oblique.

David Price, who was acquired by Detroit just before the deadline to improve a somewhat struggling starting pitching staff for Detroit, has not played up to Detroit’s high expectations quite yet with a 4.3o ERA in two starts.

Detroit continues to struggle and continues to slip. The Kansas City Royals are in first place in the AL Central this late in the season for the first time since 2003. They just lost their first game yesterday to the best team in baseball, Oakland, for their first loss in nine games. Kansas City recently won 15 of 18 playing the likes of the Oakland Athletics earlier this month and the San Francisco Giants.

In a road trip that involved the New York Yankees, the Toronto Blue Jays and the Pittsburgh Pirates, Detroit went 2-9. Detroit had the best road record in the MLB two weeks ago, but that is no longer after this road trip.

Now, Detroit is tied for the second spot in the AL Wild Card race with Seattle. The Mariners have won seven of their last eight games and are prepared to dunk the Tigers right out of the playoffs if they started today.

Detroit plays two home games against the Pirates before taking on the Seattle Mariners at home Aug. 15.