Detroit Tigers are in the top 15 after making the playoffs at the end of the season.

Detroit Tigers didn’t expect much from the 2024 MLB season and got a lot more than they could have imagined.

This was to be another year of their extensive rebuilding, but a step closer to finally returning to playoff contention with the further development of their young squad.

It got to the point that even at the July 30, 2024 MLB trade deadline, the team had a 52-57 record, trailing by 14.0 games. Cleveland Guardians leads the American League Central Division and trails by 7.5 games. Kansas City Royals for third place Wild Card, with four other teams between them.

63 games and 34 wins later, the Tigers clinched the third Wild Card spot with a ticket to October baseball.

Even after their unlikely success, no one expected Detroit to exit the Wild Card round as they faced the winner of the American League West. Houston Astroseight years into their impressive dynasty.

Just two games later, both wins, the Tigers advanced to the divisional round of the American League playoffs, but their Cinderella story came to an end at the hands of the Guardians, although it took them five games to do so.

Now that the season is officially over and free agency is just a few days away, Joel Reiter of Bleach Report released the latest version of its MLB Power Rankings, with Detroit ranked 13th.

“The Tigers went 31-14 in their last 45 games to earn a wild card berth, then beat the Houston Astros in the Wild Card Series and then took the Cleveland Guardians to five games in the ALDS,” Reuter wrote. “It’s lightning in a bottle, but there’s some real talent on the roster, including AL Cy Young favorite Tarik Skubal, All-Star outfielder Riley Greene and breakout star Parker Meadows.”

Tarik Skubal quietly disappeared from the spotlight in 2023, returning from a late-season injury to begin his streak of dominance on the mound.

He continued that streak into 2024 and is now all but guaranteed to win the American League Cy Young Award.

That’s the strong core the Tigers have, everyone is young and the team is in control for years to come, and the postseason experience they gained this year could prove crucial to the team’s continued success.

Detroit is in a good place as an organization right now, and we may be on the cusp of another Astros-like run.