Tigers still in driver’s seat for playoff spot

OK, so the Detroit Tigers go from losing five in a row in the thick of a postseason push to taking two of three from the best team in the American League.

Longtime Tigers fans will point out that the team went 69-53 the rest of the way and saw their lead in the AL East slip to just 3 1/2 games over Toronto at one point.

If you’re wondering why the Tigers lost four in a row and finished the six game road trip 2-4, the answer is simple.

Especially when you consider that the Rangers have the best record in the American League and the Mariners are one of the hottest teams in baseball (a MLB best 10-3 in the month of August).

The fact that the Tigers blanked the Rangers in the last two games behind a pair of rookies in Matt Boyd and Michael Fulmer is the story of the road trip.

More importantly, 30 games will come against teams with losing records while just 14 will come against teams currently above .500.

Of those 14 games, all will come against teams with which the Tigers are directly competing for a postseason spot — the Indians, the Red Sox and the Orioles.

The Tigers play a weak enough schedule between now and the time of their return that they should be able to stay in it.

If Fulmer skips a start, it will be awfully hard for the Tigers to defend pitching him deep into games that were already decided.

If they can survive the choppy waters of the next few weeks and get everyone back in time for the seven remaining games against Cleveland then the chances are very good that October baseball will return to Detroit.