Last Night In Baseball: The Tigers Are Running Out Of Chances

The Tigers are suddenly scuffling. The D-backs wasted a prime opportunity. The Guardians and Rangers, however, did not. Monday’s MLB action provided all that and much more. Here are all the best moments from last night in Major League Baseball: The Tigers managed to grab a wild-card spot even after trading top starters Tarik Skubal and Casey Mize at the trade deadline, but it’s starting to feel like now Detroit really could have used those two around. The Tigers have now lost six in a row, with the AL-best Rays taking the first game of the series between the two on Monday. Now, this isn’t why Detroit lost against Tampa Bay last night — the Rays would score more runs after this — but what ended up being the winning run scored on this play, in which the Tigers did not challenge the call at first base, allowing a run to score. It would have been the third out of the inning, and still a 1-0 game at that point — maybe things go differently from that point forward, maybe they do not, but we’ll never know for sure. In the sixth, first baseman Jonathan Aranda would make the point that much more moot, by hitting his 16th homer of the season 380 feet off starter Framber Valdez. Valdez, signed to a three-year, $115 million contract this offseason, was expected to be paired with Skubal as a co-ace for a season and then take over as the top arm for Detroit in 2027. Instead, he has a 4.35 ERA on the season, and just allowed four runs to the Rays without striking out a batter. While Detroit threatened in the ninth with runners on the corners and the tying run at the plate, closer Bryan Baker got out of the jam by striking out right fielder Zack McKinstry and first baseman Spencer Torkelson to end the game. The Rays are in a great place, still in first in the AL East with the most wins in the junior circuit with 78. Even if Tampa Bay slides a little bit and falls into a wild-card spot, both the Yankees and Red Sox have loads of cushion in those first two that the Rays would inherit. Detroit, though, has dropped to seven games out of the AL Central lead and is 4.5 behind the Guardians for the last wild-card, with five other teams in between the two. The Tigers’ season isn’t done yet, but this losing streak is certainly leading there barring a miraculous September comeback. Cal Raleigh has had a horrible 2026. You can ask Deesha Thosar about that, or just a look at where Raleigh’s collapse sits, historically. The good news for both Raleigh and the Mariners is that said collapse got a little less historic on Monday: he hit three homers in four trips to the plate against the Phillies, bumping his OPS over .600 for the first time since May 5. Raleigh’s OPS+ is now also 78 — it had been just 65 and the largest year-to-year drop in the stat in MLB history, minimum 300 plate appearances, just a week ago. In the bottom of the first, Raleigh caught up to a 95 mph Zack Wheeler four-seamer and sent it back in the other direction at 108.5 mph. In the fifth, Raleigh didn’t hit it quite as hard — still hard, though, at 101 mph — but sent it nearly 400 feet this time, this time on a cutter that Wheeler left middle-middle. And then in the seventh, Raleigh got hold of a cutter down low from reliever Chase Shugart, and deposited it over the wall in right field. Three homers in one game; that’s the first time Raleigh has managed the feat, which is impressive when you consider he bashed 60 of them a year ago and another 91 in the three seasons preceding that. Big Dumper’s season isn’t fixed by any means — he’d have to hit about .500 the rest of the season for that to happen — but as Thosar said, as Raleigh goes, so do the Mariners. And on Monday, Seattle won 9-2 behind three hits and four RBIs from Raleigh — if he can hit even a little bit instead of what came before, then the Mariners still have a realistic shot in both the AL wild-card race (currently three games back) and the AL West, where the Rangers are in first because Texas is the only team with a .500 record. As for the Phils, the winning streak was snapped at nine games, but Philadelphia finds itself two games ahead of the Padres in the wild-card standings and just 3.5 behind the Braves in the NL East. Oh, and Atlanta has to face the Dodgers this week, so there might be time for more climbing for Philly. Not a great night for the Diamondbacks here, courtesy the Cubs. Arizona entered play two games back of the Padres for the third wild-card spot in the NL, and exited the day in the same place even though San Diego lost to the Pirates, 3-2, in 12 innings. It’s bad enough to lose when that happens, but the D-backs were shut out by Chicago, 7-0, just to make it sting that much worse. Conversely it was quite the day for Michael Conforto and the Cubs — Chicago’s DH went 3-for-3 with a walk, two runs and two RBIs, and was part of back-to-back jacks in the sixth inning. Conforto has rebounded pretty well from a rough 2025 with the Dodgers, in which he was a sub-replacement-level player for Los Angeles thanks to a .637 OPS and negative defensive value. With the Cubs, he’s being deployed almost exclusively against right-handed pitchers, and the platoon is working out for everyone involved: Conforto is batting .232/.326/.473 on the season with 12 homers in 88 games, while his 119 OPS+ is the highest he’s produced since 2020. While the Tigers have lost five in a row and harmed their chances of making the postseason, the Guardians are headed in the opposite direction. After downing the Angels on Monday, Cleveland has won five straight, and sits half-a-game ahead of the Astros for the AL’s third wild-card spot. Check out this play from third baseman José Ramírez, who managed to get this ball in foul territory and still make the throw he needed to in order to get the out at first. Ex-Angel Jo Adell made it a 2-1 game against his former team with a groundball single in the fifth, and catcher Austin Hedges would add on an exclamation point in the next inning with a two-run shot, his fifth homer of the year. Parker Messick managed to keep the Angels in check, holding Los Angeles to one run across six innings, and just four baserunners. The rookie starter has a 2.50 ERA on the season, and debuted just over a year ago, on Aug. 20: since the call-up, Messick has posted a 2.54 ERA over 194 ⅔ innings and 33 starts while striking out over four times as many batters as he’s walked. He’s been great, and despite the 10-8 record this season has played a significant role in the Guardians being where they are. The Marlins had just won three in a row, leaving them four games back in the NL wild-card race — not out of it by any means, especially not with how hot this team has shown it can get in spurts in 2026. Miami started playing host to the Red Sox on Monday, however, and Boston not only had its own weekend sweep behind it, but has been MLB’s best team since the All-Star break with a 25-11 record. The two played it even for most of the game, with the Marlins scoring first in the second inning, then building a 2-1 lead with another run in the seventh: Sandy Alcantara was excellent, with seven innings and six strikeouts against eight total baserunners. When he left the game, though, Boston took advantage: a wild pitch by reliever Josh Ekness tied the game at two, then in the ninth second baseman Anthony Seigler hit his first career triple to make it a 3-2 game. Shortstop Nick Sogard added another run on a single to score Seigler, giving closer Aroldis Chapman some insurance to work with in the bottom of the inning. He didn’t need it, allowing just one harmless hit before retiring the side and extending Boston’s winning streak to four games. The Marlins are lucky in that both the D-backs and Padres lost, keeping Miami from falling further behind, but September approaches: things are getting to the point where the status quo becomes its own issue in the standings. The Rangers won against the White Sox on Monday, launching Texas into sole possession of first place in the AL West, but at what cost? Well, okay, the Rangers won 11-2 against Chicago, so the cost was mostly to Brandon Nimmo’s ribs. Shortstop Corey Seager continues to look like he’s supposed to at the plate now that his back inflammation is in the rear view: he went 3-for-4 before being lifted on Monday, with three RBIs, a walk and a run, and has hit so well over the weeks since his return — .355/.424/.553 in 21 games — that his OPS+ for the season is now 118, and he’s been worth nearly 2.5 wins above replacement. And all of that despite the fact he was batting just .182/.292/.374 when he landed on the IL a second time. If Seager is Seager again, the Rangers are better than their record. The AL West might not have a standout, but seeing the Mariners, Astros and Rangers fight it out over the next month should still be plenty entertaining.