The Detroit Tigers are atop the American League Central division, and have been for the majority of the 2025 MLB season. But, after their sweep at the hands of the Cleveland Guardians, in Detroit, the lead has shrunk considerably.
Cleveland is only 3.5 games back, after being down as many as 15.5 games at one point in the season. With only nine games left, it was a disastrous series for the Tigers, and it opened the door for the Guardians to surpass Detroit in what would be the biggest blown division lead in MLB history.
After the game and the series sweep, Tigers manager A.J. Hinch didn’t hold back in his brutal assessment of the series. Evan Petzold of The Detroit Free Press shared Hinch’s NSFW reaction to the sweep that puts the Tigers in jeopardy of losing the Central.
A.J. Hinch doesn’t mince words on Guardians sweep
“We got our (expletive) kicked in pretty much every aspect, and they swept us,” Hinch said. “They’re going to get another shot at us, or we’re going to get another shot at them, whichever way you want to look at it.”
The Tigers, in the three-game series in Detroit in the middle of September, dropped the first game 7-5 in extra innings, the second game 4-0, and the series finale 3-1.
Despite a solid outing from Tarik Skubal, who allowed one run in six innings with nine strikeouts, the Tigers blew it late on a two-run home run to Jose Ramirez. It solidified a brutal series sweep and put the Guardians within striking distance of the AL Central.
Cleveland sits 3.5 games back of the Tigers, with a four-game series against the Minnesota Twins before inviting the Tigers to Cleveland for a series that could decide the division.
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Detroit faces the Atlanta Braves at home before traveling to Cleveland, then finishing the year at the Boston Red Sox, a team that’s also vying for a postseason berth. It’s not going to be an easy finish to the year for Detroit.
The Tigers’ magic number to clinch the Central is seven, which could be heavily swayed depending on how this weekend series against the Braves and the Guardians series against the Twins end up.
While this series was a brutal one for the Tigers, they’re still the favorites to clinch the AL Central. However, the Guardians are more than capable of further shrinking the Tigers’ division lead. Atlanta, despite not being a postseason team, has the talent to play spoiler.
The Tigers need to bounce back in a major way; otherwise, they could be on the losing end of the worst collapse in MLB history for a division lead. The 15.5-game lead is down to 3.5.
Hinch’s candid and NSFW message on the sweep at the hands of the Guardians is an accurate description of how the series went.
It was a brutal one for Detroit, though fortunately, they have a chance to make up for it with another matchup against the Guardians in the penultimate series of the 2025 season.
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