Detroit Tigers and Postseason Baseball: Seriously?

Are the Detroit Tigers for real?

With just three games left in the regular season, they can edge closer to securing the final playoff spot when they host AL Central rivals, the Chicago White Sox, on Friday night.

While the fate of the division is still up for grabs and Minnesota still mathematically in with a shout, the Tigers can look forward to a trip to the ALDS by taking care of their own business.

Following Thursday's bench-clearing loss to the Twins, the Tigers' magic number remains at two, and they can pack their postseason bags by winning their final series of the year in front of their home fans.

Regardless of what happens in the series between the Twins and the Royals, Jim Leyland's men know a trip to the Bronx awaits them if they can take two out of three, starting tonight.

But for me, the more important question is whether the Tigers even deserve to be playing meaningful October baseball.

Eleven other teams in the majors have better records than the Tigers at this point and, with the Tigers just 11 games above .500, they could fall to as low as 15th overall and still win the AL Central.

The Tigers have taken just seven out of 18 against the Twins and they split the season series with the Royals, arguably the worst team in the American League, 9-9. If it wasn't for playing a three-game set against Cleveland each and every month (14-4) Detroit would probably have a losing record too.

This kind of apparent unbalance is not that uncommon though. Remember the Dodgers in 2008? They were the 15th best team in baseball and lost in the league championship series to the Phillies.

Or Tony La Russa's 2006 St. Louis Cardinals. Yes, those 2006 world champion St. Louis Cardinals. A team which missed having a losing season by just three games yet went on to win it all.

Detroit fans don't need me to remind them that the Redbirds knocked the then Wild-Card-winning Tigers off in five games in the World Series.

In 2009 though, the Tigers are average in almost every sense of the word. They rank mid-table or lower in almost every statistical category—runs (15th), home runs (10th) RBI (15th) stolen bases (26th), extra base hits (21st), ERA (13th) and opponents' batting average (16th) and they are no more than an average defensive team.

Of course, the only stat which really matters to die-hard Tigers' fans is their place atop the division.

The division is by no means the worst in the Majors—everyone knows that slur belongs to the NL Central—but it just seems odd to mention the words "Detroit" and "playoffs" in the same sentence.

There is a reason though that they are on the cusp of postseason baseball.

Miguel Cabrera has provided consistency in the cleanup spot in his second season after switching leagues in his move from the Marlins, while All-Star Curtis Granderson has traded batting average for power and provided a spark at the top of the Tigers' order.

Brandon Inge has put a torrid 2008 behind him and showed the form he displayed in 2006 and Justin Verlander responded to critics by showing that 2008 was more of a fluke that a rapid fall from grace.

The 26-year-old righty has displayed the best command of his big league career and overpowered hitters at an alarming rate, anchoring a rotation with a useful one-two-three punch ahead of offseason acquisition Edwin Jackson and rookie hurler Rick Porcello.

So what's the problem? For me, an NL fan, it is probably a matter of perception. Their trip to the World Series in 2006 aside, I always still think of the Tigers as being that hapless mid-90s team; the team that plummeted from being the best of the best in a decade of decline under Sparky Anderson.

I wasn't around to see them win their fourth, and last, World Series in 1984. Instead, my views are colored by their 119 defeats in 2003, a dozen straight losing seasons and the awful Alan Trammel.

Leyland has worked wonders with the Tigers and they have every right to now celebrate the success they are having. They have been at the top of the AL Central since beating the Indians on May 10, and it would seem cruel to see their chance of a return to the postseason stripped away at the end of an otherwise successful year.

Just one month ago they were riding high on the back of a six-game winning streak after sweeping Cleveland and Tampa Bay. They had built up a seven-game lead at the top of the division and their playoff slot would probably not even be in doubt now had they not been swept by the awful Royals and proceeded to lose five straight.

The Detroit Tigers may not be the best team in the American League. Heck, they may not even be the best team in their division.

Regardless, their 2009 successes are legitimate and they deserve whatever plaudits they are given. Will they advance to the postseason, beat the Yankees or win it all?

Yes, probably not, and no.

The Tigers are for real and I, for one, am glad to be proved wrong.