The 2021 standings suggest the Detroit Tigers were mediocre at best. In fact, the 77-85 record suggests overachievement, as their run differential gives them a Pythagorean record that's two wins worse.
However, if you remember what the standings said before the season, it was supposed to be uglier. PECOTA projected them for 67 wins, while ZiPS painted a slightly rosier color of toilet water at 70-92. And indeed, the Tigers looked that lousy in April when they ate it out of the gate with an 8-19 record at the end of the first month.
If the Tigers sank to 11 games below .500 by May 1, and finished a mere eight games below .500 at the end of the season, simple math says they must have looked respectable the rest of the way. Indeed, the Tigers ascended to aggressively average over the final five months:
- May: 14-13 (+3)
- June: 14-13 (-14)
- July: 14-12 (+15)
- August: 12-14 (-15)
- September: 14-12 (+15)
- October: 1-2 (-5)
- Total: 69-66 (-1)
There were ways to shape the Tigers into a threat. They had a winning record against the AL East (18-14) and the AL West (18-16), besting the White Sox's total performance against the league's other divisions (35-31). They were also the only AL Central team to finish with a winning record against teams .500 or better, going 39-36 against the White Sox's 27-29. The only teams with better winning percentages won 90 games.
The pessimistic read says the Tigers only projected to an 83-win pace after removing their worst month. They finished below .500 against the only winning team in the division. Specific to this year, the White Sox and Tigers never met during what could be construed as a stretch run, or even the dog days for that matter. They didn't play once between July 4 and Sept. 19. a stretch during which the White Sox's divisional lead swelled from six games to 11.
Over the first half of the season series, the White Sox ran up the score on Detroit, which played a big part in them running away with the standings. When they met for six games over the final two weeks, the results didn't matter all that much, and the subsequent split of those games wouldn't have provided much information anyway.
The overall picture of the season series is a rousing success for the White Sox.
| Year | Wins | Losses | RS | RA |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | 6 | 12 | 69 | 84 |
| 2013 | 7 | 12 | 76 | 90 |
| 2014 | 9 | 10 | 80 | 85 |
| 2015 | 9 | 10 | 68 | 80 |
| 2016 | 7 | 12 | 80 | 101 |
| 2017 | 10 | 9 | 103 | 98 |
| 2018 | 7 | 12 | 78 | 92 |
| 2019 | 12 | 6 | 113 | 86 |
| 2020 | 9 | 1 | 70 | 28 |
| 2021 | 12 | 7 | 106 | 71 |
| Total | 88 | 91 | 843 | 815 |
That board includes the last 10 years, which looks much better than the previous last 10 years. After the 2020 season, the White Sox were 81-97 with a -56 run differential. They're still in the red when it comes to wins and losses, but exchanging their worst run differential year (outscored 111 to 62 during a 5-13 2011) nearly repairs the picture completely.
The Tigers think they're close, adding Eduardo Rodriguez to bolster the rotation and Javier Báez to patch the hole at shortstop. They should think they're close, because with multiple promising young starters and flawed teams elsewhere in the Central, they have fewer obstacles in their path to contention. It's just difficult to shape this head-to-head matchup into a meaningful rivalry, because the games stopped having meaning by the All-Star break.
THE GAMES
- April 27: Tigers 5, White Sox 2
- April 29: White Sox 3, Tigers 1 (Game 1, 7 innings)
- April 29: White Sox 11, Tigers 0 (Game 2, 7 innings)
- June 3: White Sox 4, Tigers 1
- June 4: White Sox 9, Tigers 8
- June 5: Tigers 4, White Sox 3
- June 6: White Sox 3, Tigers 0
- June 11: White Sox 5, Tigers 4 (10 innings)
- June 12: White Sox 15, Tigers 2
- June 13: White Sox 4, Tigers 1
- July 2: White Sox 8, Tigers 2
- July 3: Tigers 11, White Sox 5
- July 4: Tigers 6, White Sox 5
- Sept. 20: Tigers 4, White Sox 3
- Sept. 21: Tigers 5, White Sox 3
- Sept. 27: White Sox 8, Tigers 7
- Oct. 1: White Sox 8, Tigers 1
- Oct. 2: White Sox 5, Tigers 4
- Oct. 3: Tigers 5, White Sox 2
DEFINING HITTERS
Yasmani Grandal: Even when Grandal was "struggling" to reality-warping slash lines during the first half, he still found ways to stick it to the Tigers, hitting .222/.417/.556 with three of his six hits leaving the yard, and eight walks over his first nine games. When the rest of his production ticked up after his late-August return, he didn't spare Detroit. He hit .250/.443/.591 against the Tigers on the season, with four homers and 15 walks over 15 games.
Leury García: Nobody drove in more runs against Detroit in 2021 than García, with 14 over 16 games. There were a lot of games in the first half of the season that hinged on runners in scoring position opportunities with García at the plate, and these games are the ones in which he came through.
Eric Haase: With a 31-percent strikeout rate and an ISO (.228) that's uncomfortably close to his OBP (.286), Haase has an all-or-nothing profile. Against the White Sox, he was closer to "all," hitting .286/.322/.625 with five homers over 15 games, which is a lot of production around 24 strikeouts.
Jonathan Schoop: The Detroit second baseman tied Haase with five homers, and part of me wonders if his strong performance against the White Sox made retaining Schoop more palatable than trading him. After the holiday weekend series against the White Sox, Schoop hit a muted .273/.312/.384 the rest of the way, with the Tigers extending him for two years in early August, but he tends to show up against the Sox no matter what kind of season he's having.
DEFINING PITCHERS
Three-fifths of the White Sox rotation: The White Sox's five-man crew could be divided into haves and have-nots, with the haves coming out ahead. Dylan Cease, Lance Lynn and Carlos Rodón went a combined 8-0 with a 1.60 ERA and 77 strikeouts over 56 innings. Lucas Giolito and Dallas Keuchel were 1-4 with a 5.72 ERA and 10 homers allowed over 50⅓ innings.
Liam Hendriks: Repeated viewings didn't seem to affect Hendriks. He faced the Tigers more than any other team (10 appearances), going 2-0 with six saves in seven attempts, and 16 strikeouts against zero walks over 9⅓ innings. The only two runs he allowed came on one swing of the bat -- a game-tying two-run homer by Daz Cameron on June 11 after a mid-inning rain delay -- but the White Sox scored one in the top of the 10th to give him one of his two victories.
Injured Tigers: Matthew Boyd and Spencer Turnbull combined to throw five innings over two appearances, but both departed their starts with injuries, leaving a lot of innings for guys like Tyler Alexander and Jose Ureña. The vaunted trio of Casey Mize, Matt Manning and Tarik Skubal had moments, but some rough patches that nullified them.
Alex Lange: He probably didn't mean to plunk José Abreu, so he was miffed at what he perceived to be a disproportionate reaction from Abreu on the basepaths. Yet his instinct to blame the victim wasn't that impressive either, and we'll see if either side lets it linger into next season.
DEFINING CHARACTERISTICS
Lopsided strikeouts: White Sox pitchers struck out the Tigers 196 times over 164 innings, which was the best showing for them, and the worst showing for Detroit. White Sox hitters only struck out 142 times. The addition of Báez helps Detroit in a lot of categories, but maybe not this one.
Lopsided production: García led the White Sox in RBIs against Detroit while owning the 12th-highest OPS against them in 2021. That's no fault of García's, as he hit a respectable .291/.375/.382. It's just that the White Sox posted an .812 OPS as a team against the Tigers, with 15 hitters clearing .700 no matter the playing time. On the other side, the Tigers only had five hitters with an OPS above .700, and hit just .222/.291/.359 as a team in these 19 games.
Lopsided stolen bases: The Tigers made up some of the deficit by swiping 25 bases in 27 attempts, with Poor Robbie Grossman the only Tiger to be caught. Akil Baddoo went 7-for-7. Meanwhile, the White Sox were successful in just two of seven attempts. A 23-base differential is pretty stark, and something the White Sox would be wise to close up in case Detroit actually starts hitting.
(Photo by Joe Robbins/Icon Sportswire)
