I saw something posted online earlier today, and I’ll paraphrase: “If you’d have told me in the spring that the Tigers would be starting Brenan Hanifee on a night where they could clinch a playoff spot, I wouldn’t have believed you.”
Well, here we are. The last playoff game featuring the Tigers was in 2014, and the last time they even sniffed a postseason berth was in 2016. But in 2024, after being sellers at the trade deadline, after putting together the world’s most unorthodox pitching strategy, after having a 0.2% chance of making the playoffs in early August.