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When Baseball Prospectus released their PECOTA projections earlier this month, it felt like a splash of ice cold water in the early morning. PECOTA projected the Detroit Tigers to win just 78 games in 2017, and finish third in the AL Central. The Minnesota Twins — the Twins! — were projected to best Detroit with 80 wins. We won’t even get into all the hype the Cleveland Indians are receiving.
Luckily, PECOTA has been the most pessimistic of the bunch so far. FanGraphs’ ever-changing projections have the Tigers at 82 wins at the time of writing, second in the AL Central. This may seem low, but their AL Wild Card winners are projected at just 84 wins.
Other publications are even higher on the Tigers’ chances. USA Today’s predicted standings have the Tigers in second again, but with an 85-77 record. This is just one win off the pace the Tigers set last year, when they finished eight games behind the Indians in the Central. Atlantis Casino in Las Vegas has set the Tigers’ over/under at 85.5 wins, a half-win better than their 2015 prediction.
The summary:
- PECOTA: 78 wins
- FanGraphs: 82 wins
- USA Today: 85 wins
- Vegas: 85.5 wins
The part where you come in:
Like we do all too often at Bless You Boys, we are borrowing an idea from one of our SB Nation brethren. Talking Chop, our excellent Atlanta Braves community, posed these three questions* to their readers.
- Where do you expect the Tigers to end up, record-wise, in 2017?
- What win total would represent a disappointment to you?
- What win total would greatly please you, in the vein of the Tigers exceeding your expectations?
We pose these same questions to you! There won’t be an official poll yet, but the start of spring training is as good a time as any to take the fanbase’s temperature about the team’s overall chances heading into 2017. Voice your opinions in the comments!
*Talking Chop asked these questions about the Braves, not the Tigers. It would be rather foolish, if quite thorough, to ask readers for their opinions on the other 29 teams in Major League Baseball.