Yeah, it's way early to start this thread, but if you think the Tigers won't make the post-season, here's the place to talk about it.
If you think they'll hang on and win the wildcard, here's the place to talk about it.
If you think they can stay on top of the White Sox and win the division and possibly even still have the best record in the majors come October, here's the place to talk about it.
If you have thoughts on what they'll do after that, be it swept from the first round to World Series Champions, here's the place to talk about it.

For a while I think I've assumed they would fall behind the White Sox and possibly not make the playoffs since the Yankees and Red Sox are somehow always the Yankees and Red Sox come September. But here's what I realized. They play each other 9 more times, and they each play the White Sox 3 times. So even though that's 15 wins to divide among them, it's also 15 losses to divide. That's good for Detroit. But the biggest factor will be the 17 remaining games Detroit has against those 3 teams. They will have to play at least .500 ball in those games to be in a good position.

I think it would take a monumental, historic fall for them to not at least get the wild card. I don't think a team's ever had a record this good this late and not made it, definitely not in the Wild Card era at least.

Everyone keeps trying to compare them to last year's Orioles and Nationals or the Royals from a few years ago, but they didn't last this long.

I expect them to make the wild card, if not win the division. We can play with the Yanks and the Red Sox, and proved tonight we can play with the white sox. There is no reason for them not to make it.

Like I said before, August is a huge month for the tigers. If we can get out of August .500 or better, we're gold.

Yeah, it seems like even mediocre play should get us into the playoffs.
I'm looking right now at what is going on around the league and teams should help us out against each other, or at least weed out some of the competition.
Example: the Blue Jays beat the Yankees tonight. The Yankees are now just 3 games ahead of the Jays for 2nd place in the AL East. I believe that's just the first game of the series. If the Jays sweep, both teams have similar records but the Yanks have been dragged down. If the Yanks come back to beat the Jays, the Jays pretty much fall out of wild card contention (maybe a bit pre-mature to go that far with it, but you get the point).
As for the Twins, they'll be playing a series against the Sox soon. If the Twins win, then the Sox aren't gaining any ground should the Tigers drop a game or two. If the Sox win, the Twins just fall further out.

So, you see, as long as the Tigers can win half of their games or so, by pure nature of other teams playing one another, the playoffs should be a sure thing. By the way, winning half of their remaining games at this point would give the Tigers 97-98 wins. I still remember wondering at the beginning of the season if they would come through and be .500 or better. Pretty much everything has gone their way. Sure, Maroth has been out a while, Miner has won 75% of his games in Maroth's place. Dmitri was horrible and then out. Thames became the best power bat on the team. Jones missed the first 2 1/2 weeks of the season, Rodney was 1-0 with 3 saves.
It's seriously hard to think of anything that has gone horribly wrong for this team where there wasn't another thing that was potentially even better to make up for it. At the beginning of the season, the fear was that Ordonez, Guillen, Pudge, and/or Bonderman would get injured, Rogers would be unstable, Verlander and/or Zumaya would be overwhelmed or inconsistent.

So has this team built up so much confidence and moxy that they could survive anything and finish this magical season? I guess we'll see. I'm more and more of a believer every day.

Man, i'm just enjoying this season so much. I've always been a tigers fan, but being born in 88, i havent witnessed to many good teams. None, come to think of it. This has just been an excellent season. I just want to see them keep it going for as long as they can.

Man, i'm just enjoying this season so much. I've always been a tigers fan, but being born in 88, i havent witnessed to many good teams. None, come to think of it. This has just been an excellent season. I just want to see them keep it going for as long as they can.
Yeah once you were born they stopped making the playoffs.


Anyway, I say a 5 game loss to who ever wins the AL west in the ALDS. (IMO will be Texas.)

The Tigers have done a good job in helping themselves since the All-Star break. Only one team in the AL gained any ground on them, and that's the Twins who have been the hottest team in baseball. They gained 2 games but still remain 9.5 back. The Tigers can help themselves there by winning the series this weekend.
Only one other team held even ground with the Tigers, and that was the Angels. And they're a couple more games out of it.
EVERY OTHER TEAM in the AL has lost ground by one or more games to the Tigers since the break. That's a great start to the second half.

Even if it was the ALCS, I don't want to face the Twins in the postseason.

I realize we have the best pitching staff in baseball, but Santana, Tiger-killer Radke and Liriano? You've got to be kidding me! That's murder. That's like Zito, Mulder, Hudson or Maddux, Smoltz, Glavine. (wait a minute, those guys aren't exactly drowning in rings. WTF?)

It depends on Verlanders arm IMO.

Supposing our pitchers stay healthy and Maroth comes back good...

I think we make the ALCS for sure, possibly the WS. It depends on how well Minny/NY/Chicago is playing at the time. If the WhiteSox pitchers wake up, they'll be a handful.

How do you think our rotation will look in the postseason?

I'd love to see Bonderman/Rogers/Verlander. Honestly, I don't trust Rogers at all, but Leyland won't disrespect his veteran like that. Rogers will get his turn.

I wouldn't mind seeing Toronto and Baltimore get hot right about now. They both play Chicago and New York within each teams next 3 series and some wins against those teams could help us have more breathing room. Pretty sure we won't need it but it's always nice to have it. With breathing room, Leyland could rest guys even more often than he already does once the roster expands Sept 1, allowing some PT for other guys. I'm not sure what position players will come up, probably bring back anyone that's made an appearance (Santiago, Gomez - kinda doubt Logan would make it) in addition to Phelps. Hannahan? Maybe. Tata would make it for sure. Spurling? Seay? Sanchez, if not traded. Any calls from AA? Jurrjens, Giarratano? Doubtful they would call Maybin for the month, but it would certainly be fun to see him in some games if they did have the breathing room and reasons to rest regulars.

I don't think they want Maybin's "MLB service time" clock to start running yet, who knows though?