Everything is on the line for the Detroit Tigers as they play their final eight games of the 2024 regular season. It felt like it for all ten innings of Saturday’s matchup with the Orioles as they blew a lead, recaptured the lead, blew it again to force extra innings, and ultimately won a classic nail-biter in the 10th. Along the way we saw clutch hitting and pitching, and plenty of great defense and baserunning as the Tigers continue to squeeze everything out of their talent while up against the most pressure any of them have ever faced in their baseball careers.
After two months of improvisation, the Tigers rotation is finally getting healthy. They had Reese Olson back for his second appearance since coming off the injured list in this one. He isn’t stretched out fully yet, and the Tigers aren’t ready to push him too far, but he gives them another lethal, once through the order, guy at a minimum. The Orioles had lefty Cade Povich toeing the bump and while he’s good against lefties, the Tigers clearly had the pitching advantage coming into this one.
Both teams went in order in the first as the starting pitchers worked into their outings. Parker Meadows made a fine diving catch on a Cedric Mullins drive to the warning track for the standout defensive highlight early on. The Tigers continue to play great defense, grind out long at-bat, and run the bases aggressively. This is now what we’ll call “Tigers baseball” and it feels good…