Tigers should be grateful a different historic collapse is distracting from division loss

New York Mets v Miami Marlins | Tomas Diniz Santos/GettyImagesWith the Tigers' loss to the Red Sox and the Guardians' win over the Rangers on Sunday, Detroit officially lost what was a 15.5-game lead on July 8 and finished a single game shy of their first AL Central title since 2014. The 2025 Tigers' September was brutally ugly; they posted a .292 winning percentage — their worst in a full month of play since April 2021 — and won just a single series.

But with their narrow 2-1 victory over the Red Sox on Saturday, they clinched a spot in the postseason. The wins they'd banked in the first half were able to carry them, even if the second half gave fans little faith that they'd be able to make…