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- The Detroit Tigers, despite losing two of their last three games, hold the best record in the American League at 26-15.
- MLB experts consistently rank the Tigers among the top five teams in baseball, with most placing them at fourth.
The Detroit Tigers are coming off a tough weekend series against the Texas Rangers, but they’re still out ahead in the American League standings.
At 26-15, the Tigers have the best record in the AL despite losing two of their last three games. Additionally, their 2½ game lead over the Cleveland Guardians in the AL Central standings is the biggest lead of any first-place team in MLB.
Now a quarter of the way through the season, the Tigers have established themselves as one of the top-tier teams in baseball. But how highly do MLB experts rank them?
Here’s a roundup of recent MLB power rankings and where experts place the Tigers:
USA TODAY kept the Tigers steady in the fourth position, but recognized a couple of challenges the Tigers may face pretty soon: Casey Mize’s recent IL stint, and the Kansas City Royals winning 16 of 18 games between April 20 and May 9.
Fox Sports’ Rowan Kavner lifted the Tigers from fifth to fourth while highlighting ace Tarik Skubal’s resurgence:
“Remember when Tarik Skubal had a 5.91 ERA after his first two starts of the year? Well, the reigning Cy Young Award winner has 50 strikeouts, one walk and four runs allowed in six starts since then. His ERA for the year is down to 2.08.”
CBS’ Matt Snyder gave the Tigers the same treatment as Kavner, bumping them up from fifth to fourth and placing them as the highest-ranked AL team.
FanGraphs moved the Tigers up a spot from the previous week, but knocked them down from the “On The Cusp of Greatness” tier to the top of their “Solid Contenders” tier.
One reason? The AL Central emerging as one of the most competitive divisions in baseball, with the exception of the 12-29 Chicago White Sox.
May 8: ESPN (5th)
Before the Tigers’ three-game sweep of the Colorado Rockies (and before the team dropped two of three games against the Rangers), ESPN ranked the Tigers as MLB’s fifth-best team:
“The Tigers have flourished in a number of ways during the season’s opening weeks but one thing that really stands out is the degree to which they have dominated at Comerica Park. They’ve started 13-3 at home with a net per-game differential of plus-2.81 runs, the best in baseball. To put it another way, that differential translates to an .819 expected winning percentage, or 133 wins over 162 games.”
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The Athletic’s Levi Weaver got bold in an earlier ranking, listing the Tigers as a top-four team and giving much of the credit to Javier Báez:
“As of Monday night [May 5], Báez was tied with reigning Cy Young Award winner Tarik Skubal for the most bWAR on the team. More than the resurgent Spencer Torkelson, All-Star Riley Greene, or any other position player on the squad. He’s hitting over .300, and has more than acquitted himself on defense at a new position — and not a ‘I dunno, man, maybe he can play there’ corner-outfield spot, either.”
You can reach Christian at cromo@freepress.com
