On the morning of August 11, the Tigers woke up in San Francisco looking like a team in control. They were 55-63, eight games under .500. The Toronto Blue Jays, perhaps the most disappointing team this season, had an identical record.

Two weeks earlier, at the trade deadline, Detroit had traded away its second-best starting pitcher and an everyday outfielder. Six teams stood between the Tigers and the final American League playoff spot. No one in the Motor City was thinking about baseball in October.

Since that morning, the Tigers are 31-11, the best mark in the MLB. On Friday, at home against the historically abysmal Chicago White Sox, the Tigers clinched an AL wild-card spot. A postseason berth that seemed impossible six weeks ago has been secured.

On Thursday, the Tigers made another late comeback against the Tampa Bay Rays to secure a sweep. In the eighth inning, outfielder/third baseman Matt Vierling – who at age 28 qualifies as a methuselah on this team – raced home to score the go-ahead run on a sacrifice fly by Justyn Henry Malloy. As Vierling emerged from his forward slide, he raised his fist in the air and roared like a Bengal. An inning later, Tigers closer Jason Foley struck out Jose Siri to end the game. A swinging crowd rose to its feet.

Team host Jason Benetti offered an unforgettable capper: “A city that doesn’t worry about the odds has a baseball team that can be matched.”

So what is this team? Who’s working on it? How did this group achieve such a miraculous turnaround? And can the “Gritty Tigs” make noise in October?

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AJ Hinch

A manager can’t throw scoreless innings or bring in runs, at least not anymore (we should bring back player-managers – that would be hilarious), but there’s no doubt that Hinch has had a huge impact on this club. For five years, Hinch guided the Houston Astros through the most successful era in franchise history, with four postseason berths, three ALCS appearances and a 2017 World Series title. He was fired in January 2020 after his team was embroiled in the infamous can-and-sign-stealing scandal that rocked the baseball world.

But Hinch emerged from his one-year ban with his reputation virtually intact. People still believed he was a good manager, someone worthy of a job and redemption. By comparison, his old boss, former Astros GM Jeff Luhnow, hasn’t worked in baseball since. Detroit hired Hinch before the 2022 season, and while the Tigers were disappointing in his first two seasons, that had more to do with the roster than the manager.

Hinch’s value has been evident over the past six weeks. He provides a steady, calm voice that has lived through the game’s biggest moments. He has also shown a masterful understanding of his own bench and bullpen, leading the Tigers through such a phenomenal run despite only having two traditional starting pitchers for most of that stretch. He used all 14 available position players for Thursday’s win.

Most importantly, Hinch has made this team believe in itself. This is, simply put, a man who knows what he’s doing.

Tarik Skubal

In six weeks, Skubal will win the American League Cy Young award. There is a good chance that he will do this unanimously. It will be a greatly deserved honor. The Tigers ace has the circuit’s lowest ERA, the most strikeouts and the second-most innings pitched.

And over his past eight starts during Detroit’s rise to contention, Skubal has taken things to another level, posting a 1.85 ERA and 57 strikeouts in 48 2/3 innings. When he pitches, the Tigers usually win. Now that Detroit has secured its spot in the playoffs before Skubal’s scheduled final appearance of the season on Sunday, it’s likely he will skip that start and instead prepare for Game 1 of the wild-card series.

A horse stable

In the club’s 42 games since August 11, the Tigers starting pitchers have thrown just 152 2/3 innings. That’s an average of 3 2/3 frames per game. The only two traditional starters for that stretch were Skubal and rookie Keider Montero. Reese Olson, who was a regular starter for the first few months of the season, has maxed out at four innings since returning from injury a few weeks ago.

This strategy has put tremendous strain on Detroit’s bullpen, but the task is manageable. Since August 11, Detroit relievers have made 66 multi-inning relief appearances. The next team, the Chicago White Sox, only made 50. The pen sextet of Brant Hurter, Tyler Holton, Brenan Hanifee, Sean Guenther, Will Vest and Jason Foley each have an ERA of 2.22 or lower during that span. The team’s 2.27 relief ERA over that stretch is the best in baseball.

Detroit also just called up 22-year-old Jackson Jobe, arguably the game’s best pitching prospect, to join the bullpen for the stretch run. On Wednesday, he threw a scoreless frame in his debut.

Kerry Carpenter

Here are the players with at least 250 plate appearances against right-handed pitching this season, ranked by OPS:

1. Aaron Judge (probably AL MVP)

2. Shohei Ohtani (probably NL MVP)

3. Bobby Witt Jr. (probably second AL MVP)

4. Juan Soto (probable AL MVP at third)

5. Kerry Carpenter

The Tigers’ left-handed DH missed nearly three months with an issue and returned on August 13. As the numbers above indicate, he is a monster against northern paws; his OPS is .953 since he returned. Teams target him late in games with lefty pitchers, but Carpenter is a legitimate elite hitter when he has the platoon advantage.

An unknown group of very solid hitters

The most famous Detroit Tiger, Javier Báez, has not played since August 22. The big swinging shortstop, signed through the 2022 season, has been utterly terrible for the Tigers, hitting a .221/.262/.347 line while wearing navy blue and orange.

But fame is overrated. Winning is better, as the Tigers have shown. Riley Greene was the team’s lone player All-Star this season; he has continued raking. Former No. 1 overall pick Spencer Torkelson, who was demoted to Triple-A after a terrible first half, has improved a lot since his recall on August 17. Zach McKinstry, Matt Vierling and Parker Meadows have all taken steps forward. Hinch often mixes and matches to ensure advantageous matchups.

It’s not an overwhelming lineup — Detroit is 23rd in the MLB in home runs this year — but it gets the job done.