And give it up for yooouuur.... Detroit Knicks!

Detroit, it’s time to put those World Series dreams on hold. This is starting to get ugly. Widely expected to compete for the division crown and a potential World Series appearance, the Tigers have fallen completely on their face. In fact, they’ve fallen so hard that they probably crushed whatever child/wildlife that had the misfortune of passing in their vicinity. Not only are the Tigers terrible, they’re murderers!

Seriously, with the second highest payroll in all of baseball, no one could have expected this. The 0-7 start was bad, but I assumed that the Tigers would reel off a few wins once they finally got that first win. Nope. They’ve gone 1-3 after getting that “big” win. To make matters worse, they haven’t even been losing close games, which you could attribute to bad luck. Detroit has already been shut our four times, which is more times than all of last season combined. Only two of their ten losses have come by less than three runs. Amazingly, Detroit has scored fewer runs than any team in baseball while also giving up the most runs. Only one team in the American League has failed to score fewer than ten runs more than Detroit - Kansas City, who also happens to lead the majors in fewest runs allowed. Also, Detroit has given up an astonishing 78 runs (6.5/game) while only one other AL team (LA Angels) has given up more than 60.

Detroit was seen as a World Series contender at the start of the season, although many acknowledged that the bullpen could prove to be an issue. The bullpen has hardly been a factor thus far, as the starting pitching has been simply abysmal. The five starting pitchers (Rogers, Verlander, Robertson, Willis, Bonderman) have accounted for ONE quality start. Bonderman is the only starter who has managed to keep his ERA under 6.50.

After last season’s offensive performance, the addition of Miguel Cabrera only fueled expectations. It is fair to say that performance has not quite matched the hype. Only two Tigers starters (Guillen, Inge) have a batting average over .250, while only one starter (Inge) has accounted for more than 3 RBI. On the bright side, the Tigers have yet to be thrown out stealing (8 for 8!)

Such struggles aren’t necessarily uncommon, but it is unsettling when it happens at the start of the season. The Tigers had a 4-14 slide last July and were still in a position to compete for the division title until they let it slip away in late August. With the talent Detroit has, this slide is confounding, but if the Tigers can get back on track, the rest of the league had better not take them lightly.