Tigers earn No. 2 spot in ESPN's midseason rankings and chase historic pace
ESPN Analyst Puts Tigers at No. 2 in Midseason Stock Watch
It's the year of the Tiger, according to ESPN. Halfway through the 2025 MLB season, the numbers are starting to reflect what Detroit Tigers fans have started to let themselves believe.
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ESPN's Bradford Doolittle placed the Tigers No. 2 in his latest MLB Stock Watch, ranking them just behind the Dodgers as the most well-positioned team entering the second half. Detroit owns a 99.8% chance of making the playoffs and is on pace for nearly 98 wins, with a 14.4% shot at winning it all.
Yes, this is real.
Detroit Tigers left-hander Tarik Skubal faces the Minnesota Twins on June 29, 2025, at Comerica Park.© Lon Horwedel-Imagn Images
'If the season ended today,' Doolittle wrote, 'the Tigers' Pythagorean winning percentage would be one of the five best in franchise history.' That puts this team in rarefied air—trailing only the legendary squads of 1909 (Ty Cobb), 1934–35 (Hank Greenberg), and 1968 (Denny McLain), and ahead of the 1984 Kirk Gibson-led team that actually won it all.
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Detroit has done more than just beat expectations. They've shifted a rebuild that once looked stuck in neutral into high gear. They are charging to the top of the American League standings behind breakout stars and one ace making a historic case of his own.
Tarik Skubal, the reigning AL Cy Young winner, has been even better in 2025.
He leads the AL in wins, ranks second in strikeouts, and sits fourth in ERA. According to Doolittle's proprietary AXE metric, he's sixth-best in all of MLB and the Tigers' undisputed first-half MVP.
If he keeps this up, Skubal could do something only Grover Alexander, Lefty Grove, and Sandy Koufax have done—win the pitching Triple Crown in back-to-back seasons.
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That kind of history usually doesn't happen in Detroit. But right now, the Tigers aren't just making noise—they're making comparisons to legends. And if the second half looks anything like the first, they might end up joining them.
Related: Hall of Famer Calls Tigers Ace Tarik Skubal a Bully on the Mound
Related: Why the Tigers' Silence on This All Star's Future Is Concerning
This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on Jul 5, 2025, where it first appeared.
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