Tigers In Yet Another Pennant Race

History is repeating itself

The Detroit Tigers, Minnesota Twins, and Chicago White Sox are all positioned in a three-horse to vie for a Central division crown, comparable to last season's divisional race.

At this time last summer, 76 games into the season, the Tigers' held a four-game lead over both Minnesota and Chicago.

All three teams had apparently began turning schizophrenic with multiple winning and losing streaks. One team would win a game and then lose the next. So on and so forth.

By the middle of September, the Central division standings didn't vary all that much. But bad luck snuck upon a division foe and constant pain in the Tigers' backside.

A devastating injury struck the Twins' on September 14 when, just a day later, it was announced that first basemen Justin Morneau suffered a season-ending stress fracture in his back after a 6-3 victory versus the Cleveland Indians.

It seemed as though the Tigers' were in prime position to win the division because at that time frame, they had a comfortable four-and-a-half game lead over Minnesota and a five-and-a-half game lead over Chicago.

After Morneau's injury, the resilient Twins' finished the regular season with a 14-4 record while the Tigers', who had a recent history of developing late-season struggles, finished with a disappointing 9-10 record. Both teams ended the season with identical records forcing a one-game playoff. The Tigers' had an astonishing seven-game advantage over the Twins' and managed to choke it away.

Since Minnesota had beaten the Tigers' in the regular season series, they had earned home field advantage in the pinball machine that was called a dome. The Tigers' would eventually fall to the Twins' in the bottom of the 12th inning (6-5,) thereby shattering their playoff hopes and all the while going down in infamy as the only team in Major League history to blow a seven-game division lead.

We're now 76 games into the 2010 regular season and the Tigers' are currently leading Minnesota by only a half-game and Chicago by a two-games in the A.L. Central.

Will this be the beginning of another photo finish in the A.L. Central?

In the Tigers' case, they sure hope not.