Miguel Cabrera's big September

Miguel Cabrera is back. After a mediocre (by his standards) first half and (relatively) dreadful August, Cabrera has returned to form in September. Not surprisingly the Tigers are winning more games, too.

Through 17 games in September, he is batting .463/.507/.836. That's 836 slugging average. Not .836 OPS. His OPS is actually 1.343 for the month. With a little more than a week remaining in the month, Cabrera has nearly matched his home run total for June-August -- six this month, seven during the previous three combined.

The Tigers played .512 ball June-August. They're playing .643 ball in September. They scored an average of 4.7 runs per game in the previous three months, they're scoring 5.6 per game this month.

Really though, we should laud the entire middle of the order. From Cabrera, you face Victor Martinez (.391/.458/.656 in September) and then JD Martinez (.397/.466/.746 in September).Victor Martinez is having a heck of a year of his own, with a career-high 31 home runs and 100 RBI. (His career high there is 114, so he may surpass that as well.) That can't be a fun trio for any opposing pitcher to face.