Detroit Tigers: Why Only Jim Leyland Can Turn This Team Around

Jim Leyland is one of the best managers in the majors and there is no bigger challenge than the one he faces with this Detroit Tigers club.

Understatement of the century: the Tigers are underachieving this season. Jim Leyland needs to motivate his troops and prepare them for every game left on the schedule if they want to play in late October.

This Detroit team was supposed to be a favorite to run away with the Central Division and compete for the American League title. So far, over halfway through the season, they are just three games over .500 and almost four games out of first place in the division.

If anyone can get their squad back on track in a heated division race, it's Jim Leyland. He has been a motivator for his teams in the past and will need to be a great one the rest of the way.

He's a Great Teacher

There is no doubt that Leyland is one of the best teachers in the game today. He has a knack for taking young, raw talent and developing it into solid big-league talent.

Look what he has done with Austin Jackson, Alex Avila, Andy Dirks, Brennan Boesch and even Justin Verlander. He has developed these guys into solid big league players that will be around the game for a long time.

Leyland is smart and he relays his knowledge to his players. He knows how to mix the young talent with the veterans and make them feed off of each other.

Leyland has done a great job with young talent in Detroit. If he can develop these players even more, with the exception of an already-developed Verlander, they will be ready to play in October when the pressure is sure to be at its highest.

He Has Experience

Jim Leyland has been a big league manager for almost 30 years now and has seen everything there is to see in the game of baseball.

He got his first managing job in 1986 for the Pittsburgh Pirates, and eventually won the Manager of the Year Award in 1990 and 1992. He was runner-up for the award in 1988 and 1991.

He was then hired as the manager of the Florida Marlins in 1997 and led them to the franchise's first championship in his first season. His next job was for the Detroit Tigers in 2005, where he led the team to a 95-67 record in 2006, their best record in 20 years. He won yet another Manager of the Year Award that season.

Leyland has turned some unsuccessful teams into contenders and he has done so with the Detroit Tigers for the past six years. Before his arrival, the team was struggling to contend and had been one of the worst teams in the American League for years. His team is now in World Series contention seemingly every year, and he has had a big hand in the team's success.

If anyone can turn a struggling team around, it's Jim. He has seen it all, and with the talent on this team, he should have no problem turning them into favorites again.

He's a Motivator

Time after time, Jim Leyland has fired his team up after a disappointing performance. He can do it with his monotone postgame press conferences where he calls out his team, or his on-field antics of arguing calls.

There's no doubt that this team listens to every word that comes out of this man's mouth. He talks, they listen, simple as that.

He has been thrown out of games for arguing with umpires and having his players' backs. This builds trust in your players, and he is no stranger to that.

He has also called out his teams in the past, and that is another motivational tool that he uses to fire his team up. The Tigers, I'm sure, are taking everything Leyland has been saying to them in the locker room after losses and bottling it up as fuel for success.

This team is going to catch fire any time now and it looks like they have already taken a step towards success, winning seven out of eight games. Look out for this team in the second half, Jim Leyland means business.