Detroit Tigers and 4 MLB Teams That Are Surging Right Now

In baseball, teams often get hot. Often times, the reasons for it are obvious, but sometimes a bad team will all of a sudden win nine out of 10, and nobody will be able to explain it.

Right now, here are five teams in Major League Baseball who are hot and will impact the playoff race. Even if they themselves are not in the race, they very well might start beating teams that are. Everybody matters at this point in the season.

Detroit Tigers

Why are the Tigers hot? One could definitely argue that Justin Verlander is a huge part of this success. He is arguably the best pitcher in baseball this season. He has 18 wins, 204 strikeouts and a 2.31 ERA.

However, the Tigers haven't gone 7-3 over their last 10 games just because of him.

A huge part of that success should be attributed to his battery mate Alex Avila. This entire month he has been on fire by batting .429 and leading the team with four home runs.

When you combine that with teammate Miguel Cabrera, who is batting .370 and leading the team with 13 RBI in the month of August, it makes sense why Detroit is hot right now.

Texas Rangers

Just like in Detroit, the Rangers are 7-3 in their last 10 games and have a four-game lead in the division.

Also, just like in Detroit, the catching position is coming up huge. In August, Yorvit Torrealba is leading the team with a .382 batting average while Mike Napoli is leading the team with five home runs in the month and a .306 batting average himself. When they are combined with the always-consistent Michael Young, the Rangers' offense is looking great.

A very solid bullpen has also been vital to their success throughout this month. Texas is looking at October, and if they can stay this hot, they will be tough to beat.

Atlanta Braves

The Braves are 6.5 games behind the Phillies. Normally, a deficit like this causes some concern. However, they are tied with the Brewers for the second-best record in the National League and are leading the wild card.

Over the last 10 games, the Braves have been 7-3 and owe a lot to a one particular hitter and the back end of the bullpen.

Throughout the whole month of August, Jonny Venters and Craig Kimbrel have been perfect. Neither one of them has allowed an earned run, and they are perfect in nine save opportunities. In 19 innings, they have 28 combined strikeouts. No team wants to be behind the Braves at the end of the game.

Of course, what slide about the Atlanta Braves would be complete without mentioning Dan Uggla.

Over the current month, he is batting .370 with nine home runs and 18 RBI. His hitting streak provided a lot of offense for Atlanta.

Newly-acquired Michael Bourn has started to add a new element to the Atlanta lineup, and the Braves are looking to ride this streak as far as they can.

Tampa Bay Rays

For the first time so far on this list, I can totally say that the starting pitching is the largest reason for the recent success in Tampa Bay. Throughout the month of August, no regular starting pitcher has an ERA over 3.43. For an American League team, this is pretty impressive.

Of course, even though the pitching might be largely driving that success, there have been a few solid hitters throughout the month.

Casey Kotchman is demonstrating that not all corner infielders have to hit home runs. He has been in the top of the batting average list throughout the season, despite the fact that he does not have a ton of power.

The Rays are 8-2 in their last 10 games, but they are still outside the playoff picture and need more if they want to catch up in the division.

Milwaukee Brewers

Over the last 10 games, they are 9-1. Even though this sounds repetitive, they're hitting the ball hard. Ryan Braun and Prince Fielder are a formidable duo in the middle of the lineup and have begun to get some support from Casey McGehee. They're hitting home runs and driving in runs in bunches.

The starting pitching has also been solid, because you can't go on this type of run without both pitching and hitting. Zack Greinke is 4-0 in August with a 1.95 ERA. Several key pieces out of the bullpen have been getting outs at the end of the game as well, including closer John Axford who has yet to allow a run this month.

The Brewers are one of the best teams in the National League, and this trend might continue as the season winds down.