Mariners kicking the Tigers into endless tailspin feels like sweet revenge

Given that the Seattle Mariners clinched a postseason spot on Tuesday night, we hope fans won't mind too much about us reminding them of a less pleasant experience from last year. As M's fans will likely painfully remember, the team finished just one game back of a playoff spot in 2024.

This was the second consecutive season the Mariners missed out by only one game and you can make a case that the stage fori this was set for this during August. This was when the M's lost five of six games to the Detroit Tigers in the space of just 10 days, including being swept on the road.

Tigers can take some of the credit for getting Scott Servais fired

Just one more win for the Mariners over the Tigers, and they would have swapped places in the standings and made the playoffs instead. In addition, that poor showing versus the Tigers was just part of an overall 10-17 stretch which ultimately cost Scott Servais his job.

Well, now it's the Mariners' turn to claim that they proved to be the genesis of the Tigers' downfall, from almost certain AL Central division champions to potentially missing out on the playoffs altogether. Consider the Tigers' position when the M's went to Detroit to play a three-game series just before the All-Star break and produced a dominating sweep:

The three-game sweep proved to be the beginning of an unexpected free-fall by the Tigers, with it being part of a 26-38 run by the Motown team. This horrific run of .406 baseball over those 64 games has helped the Cleveland Guardians drag themselves back from the abyss of a 15.5-game deficit, to grab a share of first place in the AL Central.

The culmination of this tremendous climb up the standings to a share of first place came as a result of the Guardians beating the Tigers 5-2 on Tuesday night, in the first of their pivotal three-game series in Cleveland. Making it more painful was that the Tigers were up 2-0 until reigning AL Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal of all people allowed three runs in the bottom of the sixth, to give up the lead and ultimately the game.

Mariners preparing to consider things even with the Tigers

What was particularly significant about Tuesday's loss for the Tigers was that it guaranteed the Guardians now have the head-to-head tiebreaker with a 7-4 record and only two games remaining versus each other this season. The Tigers could conceivably win the next two contests and regain control, but would you really bet on a team which is on a seven-game losing streak and has won just one of their past 11?

Only seven teams can now mathematically qualify for the six playoff places in the AL, leading to the question of who will be the unlucky team to miss out? If the Houston Astros can somehow get their act together, it could be the Tigers who suffer the ultimate heartbreak, at which point the Mariners can consider the two teams even after what transpired last season.