Detroit ― After Saturday's loss, the Tigers' fifth straight, their eighth in the last nine games, and their 17th in the last 24, manager AJ Hinch struggled to find the words to describe what's happening.

"It's difficult to explain," he said.

OK, allow us to help. In short, the Tigers are on the verge of suffering arguably the greatest playoff-chase collapse in the history of Major League Baseball, and certainly the worst in the six-division, wild-card era. The Tigers' lead in the American League Central dropped to a single game Saturday night, following their 6-5 loss to the Atlanta Braves , combined with the Cleveland Guardians' doubleheader sweep of the Minnesota Twins .

This was a Guardians team that was left for dead, trailing the Tigers by an unfathomable 15.5 games as recentl

See Full Page