Stoney's Blog: Start Buying Your Playoff Tickets Now

As someone who is always forecasting doom and gloom, I have tried to be as realistic as possible when discussing the Detroit Tigers and their chances to win the American League Central Division. For most of the season, I doubted that this team had the pitching and the tenacity to win this mediocre division. That is now a distant memory. After watching the Tigers win their fifth straight game in Tampa last night, I believe I have enough evidence to award them the division. The fact that the Tigers could win a game in which Brad Penny faced David Price with a lineup that included Ryan Raburn and Brandon Inge batting back to back is a sign that the playoffs are a lock.
I know many of you who have followed my career are begging me to change my mind, but I can't for a variety of reasons. Here are a few.

1.Justin Verlander. The best pitcher in baseball will have 7 starts left. Do you really think the Tigers will lose more than 2 of those 7 if that.
2.Delmon Young. No he is not the greatest player in the world, but Young's presence in the lineup makes them a much better team than if Magglio Ordonez had to play every day.

 
3.The Division. I just don't see either the Indians,White Sox, or even Twins going on a huge run like Minnesota did in 2009 .Despite being one of the gutsiest teams in baseball, The Tribe are just too banged up in my opinion.
4.Math. I hate playing the Math card, but let's be real. The Tigers are currently 70-58. If they manage to stumble and go 15-19 the rest of the season they will end up with 85 wins.
It would take Cleveland to go 23-13 and Chicago to go 23-12 to overtake the Tigers,plus those two teams play each other eight times. I would not expect one of them to win 7 or 8 of those games.

Now, it won't be easy. There will still be many ups and downs the last 34 games. Your blood pressure will rise quite frequently, but in the end the Detroit Tigers will win their first division title since 1987. If you don't believe me just check my track record. Then again maybe you shouldn't.