The Tigers' ugly, month-long stretch from July to August had fans (including us) in a fatalistic spiral. In 25 games from the end of their series against the Rays on July 9 through their loss to the Angels on Aug. 9, Detroit went 8-17, and what was once a 15.5-game lead over the Guardians shrunk down to five.
As overdramatic as it might seem now, after the Tigers have won nine of their last 11 games since Aug. 9 and their division lead has grown back to 9.5 — this time over the Royals — who could blame us?