Tigers watching AL Central go slip-sliding away after latest devasting sweep

OK, this is officially getting scary.

Because nothing is coming easy or effortless right now for the Detroit Tigers. It’s like watching somebody walk across a sheet of ice. The Tigers are slipping and sliding and crashing and getting back up with a bloody knee and an aching back.

Yes, we have officially entered a hold-your-breath moment after the Cleveland Guardians beat the Tigers, 3-1, on Thursday, Sept. 18, finishing off a three-game sweep of the Tigers.

A devastating sweep.

‘We got our (butt) kicked in pretty much every aspect, and they swept us,’ Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said. ‘We know how important these games are. We’ve got some work ahead of us to do this right.’

Everything feels like it has flipped inside out. Just from a year ago.

In 2024, the Tigers jumped on a magic carpet ride, soaring out of a hole and going 17-8 in September just to make the playoffs.

This year, it’s completely the opposite. Thursday marked the 179th day that they have been in first place. I mean, think of it this way: They had a 14-game lead on July 8. Those are all great things if only they’d stop losing. But they can’t make it across that ice right now.

In what felt like a must-win game Thursday, the Guardians came out on top. Cleveland has now won 12 of 13. Meanwhile, the Tigers have lost 15 of their last 22.

It’s like they are living the same life. One year apart.

Tigers have a lot to lose

OK, let’s take a deep breath and think of the big picture.

Right now, the Tigers have three different goals.

No. 1. They want to get back into the playoffs. And let’s face it, it would take an absolutely epic collapse for this team not to make it. But yeah, they are doing their darndest to muck this up.

No. 2. They want to win the American League Central. They entered this game with a 4½-game lead over the Guardians. The Tigers held a magic number of 7. So, any combination of Detroit wins and Cleveland losses that add up to seven would give the Tigers their first Central title since 2014.

No. 3. They want to finish with one of the top two seeds in the American League. They entered this game with the second-best record in the AL, four games behind the AL East-leading Toronto Blue Jays (89-63) and 1½ games ahead of the AL West-leading Houston Astros (84-69).

By finishing in the top two, the Tigers would get to skip the best-of-three AL wild-card series and advance to the best-of-five ALDS.

Yeah, I know.

It seems complicated. It’s a lot of this-or-that.

But this is all you need to remember. They just need to win.

And that’s the problem.

‘It’s going to be kind of a sprint to the finish line,’ catcher Dillon Dingler said. ‘We could have put ourselves in a little bit better the position if we were taking care of business this week. But now that we are in this position, we have to make sure that we play good baseball from here on out.’

Tarik Skubal did his job

All of this set up an amazing drama. Thursday turned into a massive, must-win game, and the Tigers couldn’t have had a better pitcher on the mound.

They rolled out left hander Tarik Skubal — the 2024 AL Cy Young Award winner and 2025 favorite.

‘This is an incredible stretch of games that we have in front of us to play our way into the playoffs,’ Hinch said late Wednesday.

But there was some uncertainty around Skubal. In his last start in Miami, he had to leave the game after 45 pitches because of left-side tightness.

How would he hold up? That was the big question.

This was playoff baseball under a blue sky and warm temperatures.

In the second inning, Colt Keith hit a double, knocking in Spencer Torkelson, giving the Tigers the early lead. But it came with a twist. After the inning, Keith walked toward the dugout holding his side. He was shaking his head and let out a sigh, clearly in obvious pain. So, Hinch removed him from the lineup, moved Zach McKinstry to third and put in Trey Sweeney at shortstop.

‘All he was saying to me is, ‘I got to come out of the game,” Hinch said. ‘So that, in itself, is pretty alarming.’

He went for tests.

As the game unfolded, every moment felt magnified.

Then, Cleveland answered in the most surprising way. In the fourth inning, Skubal had Jhonkensy Noel right where he wanted him on an 0-2 count. But Noel crushed a changeup over the left-field fence, which was stunning. It was the first time that Skubal had given up a homer on an 0-2 count all season.

But the game was still tied, and Skubal opened the sixth inning with a couple of strikeouts.

Then, everything went sideways. Actually, it went right off Wenceel Pérez. Brayan Rocchio hit a ball down the right-field line. Pérez had a long run and tried diving for it. The ball bounced off his body, off the wall and scooted away from him. It was like the corner of Comerica Park had turned into a pinball wizard. Rocchio scampered around to third. Then, Skubal walked Austin Hedges. So, this game that had drama on top of drama, was left with this: two guys on, two outs, Nolan Jones at the plate.

And Skubal struck him out with a 99-mph fastball. The crowd in Comerica Park gave him a standing ovation. He walked off the mound and low-fived Dingler.

‘Obviously the loss is kind of probably what I’m more focused on, then kind of how I’m feeling physically right now,’ Skubal said.

So, the Tigers ace did his job; and if the story ended right there it would be perfect for Tigers fans.

But Skubal was replaced by Troy Melton, a 24-year-old rookie, who began the year at Double-A Erie.

In the seventh inning, he walked Ángel Martínez and faced José Ramírez, who had 28 homers.

It was yet another edge-of-your-seat moment then spun out of control. On his second pitch, Ramirez jacked a homer over the fence, which would prove to be the difference in this game.

One swing of the bat.

One more slip on the ice.

And suddenly, this feel-good movie has taken a dark twist.

‘These are tough times when you go through these stretches at the wrong time of the year, but it’s going to take the games to figure ’em out,’ Hinch said.

What’s next?

The Tigers have just nine games left: three against Atlanta this weekend in Comerica Park, three at Cleveland and then three at Boston.

‘Now they’re going to get another shot of us, or we’re going to get another shot at them, whichever way you want to look at it,’ Hinch said, of playing Cleveland.

Do they have time to turn this around and start winning? Of course.

But nothing feels certain right now. The pressure has ratcheted up. Uncertainty is everywhere you turn. Everything is cold and frigid, as they sprawl out on the ice. And the Tigers have only one way out of this: to win their way into the playoffs.

‘At some point we’re going to run out of games,’ Tyler Holton said. ‘So it’s time to buckle up and strap in. Because we’re in the middle of a fight.’

Contact Jeff Seidel: jseidel@freepress.com. Follow him @seideljeff. To read his recent columns, go to freep.com/sports/jeff-seidel.