The Detroit Tigers were picked by many to make a leap this year after converting the AL’s last wild-card berth in 2024 into a competitive showing in the ALDS.
But few saw this coming.
The Tigers trounced the Oakland A’s Tuesday night, 11-4 to improve to 50-30. With the victory, they’re the first team in baseball to reach 50 wins. Nearly halfway through the season, the Tigers are the best team in baseball with five more wins than the New York Yankees and two more than the reigning champion Los Angeles Dodgers.
The Tigers reached the midseason milestone Tuesday, even without a good game from reigning Cy Young winner and projected All-Star ace Tarik Skubal. Skubal allowed four earned runs off of six hits including two home runs to raise his ERA to a still minuscule 2.39.
But the Tigers have many ways to beat you, and on Tuesday it was through the strength of their bats. The A’s got a big dose of those bats in a five-run third inning that broke open the game.
The A’s held a 4-2 lead heading into the bottom of the third inning. But with two runners on, Wenceel Perez sent a line drive screaming to the right corner wall to easily score Riley Green and Gleyber Torres from second and third base.
The two-run double tied the game at 4-4.
Three batters later, Dillon Dingler sent a three-run home run over the left field wall, and a 4-2 deficit to start the inning was suddenly a 7-4 Tigers lead.
Detroit went on to add two insurance runs each in the seventh and eight innings. They didn’t need them as the third-inning outburst proved to be more than enough offense in the seven-run win.
With Tuesday’s performance, the Tigers took the AL lead with 402 runs scored, two better than the Yankees. At this pace, it would surprise few if the two powers ended up meeting in the ALCS.
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