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It’s been a bit less than two years since the Tigers and Astros squared off in the AL Wild Card Series, the Tigers upsetting the AL West champs by holding them to three runs in two games. The Tigers backed that up by reaching the Division Series a year ago. The Astros, taking one step back, missed the playoffs entirely.
The two teams meet tonight in another one of these AL series where both teams need to sweep to get themselves situated for a second-half run. The Tigers, losing two to the Guardians over the weekend before a rainout Sunday, are 29-42, 9 1/2 games back of the Guards, six back of the last wild-card slot, hovering a half-game ahead of the worst teams in the AL. They’re not quite this bad, having been outscored by just 12 runs and running a 35-36 third-order record that pretty much matches the top two teams in the Central. They’ve gone 7-14 in one-run games, 0-5 in extras.
