DETROIT – The Detroit Tigers have blown out the New York Yankees on back-to-back nights, and now they’re closer than ever to clinching the AL Central Division.
After Wednesday night’s win -- and Cleveland’s loss to Kansas City -- the magic number to clinch the division is down to eight.
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That means any combination of Tigers wins and Guardians losses that adds up to eight total would eliminate Cleveland from the division race. The Tigers’ magic number to eliminate Kansas City is seven (the Royals have one more loss than Cleveland and the same number of wins).
The Tigers could technically decrease that magic number by one if they win the head-to-head tiebreaker against Cleveland. So far, they’re 4-3 against the Guardians with six matchups left -- three in Detroit next week and three in Cleveland the following week.
Long story short: It would take complete chaos for the Tigers to lose their lead in the AL Central at this point. Yes, they did drop 12 of 13 games during one stretch this season, so it’s not impossible. But Detroit is in a very good spot.
In terms of playoff seeding, the Tigers currently top the AL East-leading Blue Jays by a half-game for the No. 1 seed. The AL West-leading Astros are 5 games behind the Tigers.