Detroit Tigers' Closer Curse Will Again Cost Them a Chance at a Ring

Amazingly, the Detroit Tigers have let their one major problem linger for three full seasons.

Aside from that festering flaw, the Tigers are mostly a complete team. Their offense hits for power and average with just enough speed to apply some pressure. Their defense leaves enough to be desired, but when their starting pitching is living up to expectations, they hardly need to be defensive wizards to win.

But their one problem is critical, because in a matter of minutes, it can totally wipe out all of the positive work of the other team strengths. The Tigers' bullpen, a major issue going back to 2012, remains their fatal flaw, and it is the closing role in particular that could end up torching the team’s World Series chances next month.

The Tigers have the third-highest ERA (4.26) and opponents’ average (.266) and the second-highest OPS allowed (.725) in the American League in the seventh inning and beyond. Their overall bullpen OPS (.751) and Wins Above Replacement (0.6) are the worst in the league, and their ninth-inning slash line is an absurd .295/.358/.455.

"

Tigers should go to the bullpen for the ninth *ducks*

— H. Jose Bosch (@HJBosch21) September 24, 2014"

Manager Brad Ausmus is completely aware of this problem, and never was that more evident than Tuesday night, when he was faced with a rock to his left and a hard place to his right. With a 3-0 lead going into the ninth inning, Ausmus stuck with David Price, who leads the American League with 3,618 pitches this season, rather than turning to closer Joe Nathan and his 4.98 ERA and 1.59 WHIP. And even after Price allowed two runs with Nathan warming up, Ausmus stayed with the starter, who eventually gave up the game-tying hit.

“Manager’s preference,” Nathan told Anthony Castrovince of MLB.com. “Brad’s got to go with his gut. So that’s his call."

Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images

Nathan continued: “People are going to speculate about our bullpen, and I've been on the other side where our bullpen was the best in baseball. But once you get into October, it's a whole different animal.” 

He’s right. Mistakes are magnified in October. Each pitch is infinitely more crucial than it is in the previous six months. Men react differently with those situations.

The Tigers saw it in the 2012 playoffs when Jose Valverde couldn’t be trusted, having allowed nine runs in 2.2 innings over four appearances through three series, including two runs in one-third of an inning in the World Series. Nathan, for as good as he’s been before this season, has allowed nine runs in nine innings on 14 hits and eight walks in his October career. He’s blown two saves and has one loss.

Last October, the Tigers’ bullpen had a 4.07 ERA, blew two saves and lost two games over 24.1 innings. And really, the team’s bullpen has been a source of stress and losses since 2006. Not once since then have the Tigers had a bullpen ERA below the league average, according to BlessYouBoys.com.

While these bullpen problems have made themselves part of the Tigers’ fabric, it’s not like the team has not tried to address the issue. Bringing in Nathan as a free agent was supposed to solidify the closer role this year, but that plan has gone up in flames because he can no longer be trusted, as Ausmus proved Tuesday.

Joba Chamberlain was supposed to be the backup plan, having been signed as a free agent about a week after Nathan. But Chamberlain has a 5.32 ERA and 1.61 WHIP since the All-Star break.

So general manager Dave Dombrowski looked to the trade market and picked up Joakim Soria, a former All-Star closer who had been effective with the Rangers this season, posting a 2.70 ERA with a 0.87 WHIP and 17 saves in 19 chances in 33.1 innings. But of course, once he got to Detroit, his number spiked—six earned runs in nine innings and a 1.67 WHIP before he pitched a scoreless inning Wednesday.

Still, Tigers fans have had enough of Nathan and are begging Ausmus to at least try Soria in the closer’s role.

"

Joakim Soria is warming up in the Tigers' bullpen (just kidding). Joe Nathan is warming up in the Tigers' bullpen (don't blame messenger).

— Pat Caputo (@patcaputo98) September 24, 2014"

So far, only two of Soria’s appearances with the Tigers have come with the game tied, and only once has he had a save chance, which he converted. The rest of the time it seems the manager only uses Soria in games the team is losing or in which it is way ahead, as Ausmus did Wednesday with a five-run lead in the ninth. 

"

The Tigers must have an *amazing* bullpen considering they apparently can save Soria for games 3 run behind or a 5 run lead.

— Dan Szymborski (@DSzymborski) September 24, 2014"

The team’s latest quick fix is sticking starter Anibal Sanchez in the bullpen, but he is likely to be a long reliever and not get eighth- or ninth-inning work.

And so, the problem persists, with the final weekend of the season here and the playoffs around the corner. And still there is no solution to the bullpen’s problems other than stick with the starter as long as possible, which the team did again Wednesday with Justin Verlander on the bump, lifting him only after the offense broke the game open in the eighth.

But with Price, Max Scherzer and Verlander all in the AL's top six in pitches thrown this season, it’s a solution bound to fail when leverage rises and innings become more stressful. It leaves the Tigers forced to rely on their shaky bullpen, ultimately putting their World Series hopes in a unit not even the manager seems to trust right now, and for good reason.

While the Tigers did what they could to boost offense and starting pitching this season, it might not be enough to overcome their biggest obstacle: their own relievers.

Anthony Witrado covers Major League Baseball for Bleacher Report. He spent the previous three seasons as the national baseball columnist at Sporting News, and four years before that as the Brewers beat writer for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Follow Anthony on Twitter @awitrado and talk baseball here.