It's the bottom of the eighth, and the Tigers are about to get swept by the White Sox unless they can pick up at least three runs in the ninth. That would put Chicago only five and a half games back, with plenty of time to keep moving up. I hope this isn't the beginning of a collapse.

[A couple minutes later]

Dang, Chicago picked up another run before the end of the inning. Now Detroit needs four in the ninth to just stay alive. The way they've been batting lately, it doesn't look good.

[A few minutes later]

Whoa! One out and two men on from consecutive singles, with the tying run on deck. Can they pull it out? Probably not, but it's frustrating when they get your hopes up like this.

[Update]

Dang, two outs now, with two on first and second.

...

And there's the third out.

They're going to have to play better ball than that if they want to hang on to the division (and major league) lead.

ChiSox and Tigers have seven head-to-head games remaining. Four games next week at Detroit and three in Chicago in September.

See also: 2006 Detroit Pistons (Best record in the NBA, lost in the Conference Finals), 2006 Detroit Redwings (Best record in NHL, lost in first round).

I'm sorry, Rand. Maybe third time will be the charm for Detroit in 2006, but history's not on your side this time. An MLB-leading record isn't necessarily a good thing for the Tigers at this point.