The Detroit Tigers' Playoff Hopes Are All But Gone

The Detroit Tigers won a game against the Chicago White Sox last night, and it only took Fernando Rodney just over 40 pitches...in the ninth inning to do it. Hey, at least he got the job done.

Fernando Rodney? Yes. This coming after Todd Jones was officially demoted from his role as closer for the first time in his long career.

The man who has more saves than any Tiger in team history, but in the later years of his career has carried the nickname "rollercoaster Jones" due to his unpredictability and up and down play, is closer no more according to coach, Jim Leyland. Not after what happened in game one of this series.

Let's rewind a few days.

Entering this series, the Tigers were five games behind Chicago for the division lead, with just over two months of the season remaining. A formidable mountain to climb even then. This was a must-win series for these Tigers, given how consistent Chicago has been this year and, more importantly, how Chicago has owned the Tigers.

Still, the Tigers came ready to play and entered the ninth inning with a one-run lead and the game in hand. Enter Todd Jones, who quickly retired the first two batters and was ahead of Carlos Quentin with an 0-2 count, one strike away from a win.

Quentin then got on base, and then it happened. What Tigers fans have seen too many times before. What we've almost become conditioned to expect became reality once again. Jermaine Dye crushed a Todd Jones-pitch out of the park and, although the Tigers would get one last crack at it, it was over.

The Tigers' season was crushed by another blown save by the once great Todd Jones, and the boos poured down once more.

There was still hope, however.

The Tigers sent out Justin Verlander for game two of this series. Verlander was only the hottest pitcher in the AL over the last two months, with a 6-0 record in his last eight starts and a solid ERA of 2.30 in that span.

Even Verlander buckled under the pressure of a must-win series, though. His streak ended on the bats of Jermaine Dye and Carlos Quentin, and Verlander ended up being tagged for seven runs in another crushing defeat.

These Tigers have been great at one thing this season: tugging on the heartstrings of the Detroit faithful.

They started the season 2-10, and we swore we'd write them off for that lousy start. Then they climbed all the way back to .500 and gave us hope again. The bats of rookies Matt Joyce and Brent Clevlen gave us hungry minor-league talent to cheer for.

The arm of rookie Armando Galarraga showed us that although GM Dave Dombrowski made a major error by trading young pitcher Jair Jurrjens to Atlanta, he can still find diamonds in the rough sometimes, softening the blow.

Justin Verlander, at one point 2-9 with an ERA over 5.00, was now red-hot and back to his old self, and he gave us hope that he could finally be the true ace of this team, one that brings losing streaks to a halt, and one that steps it up when the stakes are high.

Miguel Cabrera, the scorn of Tiger fans for his slow start, has showed considerable improvement in his second time facing AL pitchers, and he gave us hope that he could lead this Tigers' comeback.

None of this however, showed up for this crucial three-game series against the White Sox. With an opportunity to close Chicago's division lead to two games, Detroit now resides six games behind and are without a closer.

Getting out my crystal ball, I'm sure the Tigers won't lie down. They'll make it interesting and compete for a playoff spot until the very end, but it will be too little, too late. This was the series that the Tigers needed to come together and win, probably sweep.

Now, they might as well be those Tigers who started the year 2-10. That's essentially where they are, once again, as far as the division gap is concerned.