You gotta be realistic and think that if the Blue Jays aren’t considered a playoff team than the Tigers can’t be either. They have a better record(and IMHO) a better set of pitchers that can win games for them(Halladay and Burnett). I really don’t think the White Sox are a very good team as they make themselves look in this division, whether I’m a Tigers fan or not. The Twins just seem to always have a competitive team whether they have starpower or not, and I don’t think anyone should ever sleep on them. They are right in the hunt to the playoffs, and I might not be able to name more than 5 of their players.

I don’t think the Wild Card is possible either, sadly. The AL East is going to take that(I see the #2 team in the Central fading but I’m not sure who that is yet). I still think the Rays will win the AL East and the Red Sox will take the Wild Card. This could flip flop easily as well, like it did in 06 for us when the Twins technically won the division even though we held it forever and had the WC clinched. The Yankees are still in the hunt but they will start to fade.

Coming into this season we were expecting a lot that hasn’t been given. Verlander has been solid but not a CY Young candidate as in seasons past. Bonderman was supposed to do something. Rogers has been a pretty good pitcher for the most part. We’ve always seemed to be in games with him. AG has been a completely pleasant surprise. Willis I kinda expected to be like he was, but he really didn’t offer anything to us. I wish that we kept Chad Durbin from last year, although Miner has filled in quite nicely so far.

The offense has been sub par. Granderson is himself and he’s great. Polanco is just a little bit under his All Star rate of last year I think(didn’t he hit .340??). He’s still great. Guillen is so-so. It just doesn’t seem like he’s hitting home runs, but no one is really compared to seasons past(steroids…). Magglio is himself and is great. Cabrera is having a decent year. Its hard to say with so much money that he should be hitting .350 with 40 HR’s. I didn’t see him much in Florida, but it seems like Tiger fans were expecting this of him. Perhaps it was a fair amount to expect for a lot of money though. Sheffield is a wreck and should be at the most 8th in the order just so he doesn’t start any innings in the 9 spot and give the top of the order a quick out. Thames is above par and really having a great year. A little bit better average would be nice, but the HR’s he provides from the bottom of the order are great. Pudge was better than last year, but if he needed to go so be it. Farnsworth was not the best player to take for him though. Inge has done ok for being a 3rd baseman. Perhaps an offseason of learning to call games would help more. The minor league players have done pretty well for what was being asked of them. The bullpen has been…terrible…recently and since the beginning of the season. Rodney doesn’t seem ready, nor does Zumaya. Jones has been himself which I thought was good enough until he was injured. I don’t recall blowing many saves at the beginning of the year. The rest of the bullpen seems to have done good at some times, but also terrible at others. Inconsistancy in the bullpen is not a good thing, and it has really affected this team.

Hopefully this team can keep their heads up the rest of the way. If not I have to look forward to the Syracuse University football team, which is predicted to have 2 wins this year(with 2 division 1-AA teams on the schedule), and the Kansas City Chiefs who were 4-12 last year.