After series split with Rangers, Tigers have golden opportunity

After winning twice in a four-game series against the AL West-leading Texas Rangers, the Detroit Tigers find themselves in an interesting spot.

Despite standing 10 games under .500 entering Friday, the Tigers (35-45) are just four games back of AL Central co-leaders Minnesota and Cleveland. As the halfway point of the season approaches, it's anybody's guess as to which team will take advantage in a division in which no team is above .500. 

However, the Tigers must be salivating as they peek at the schedule. Their next two series are against the Colorado Rockies (32-51) and Oakland Athletics (21-62). If there was ever a time for the Tigers to string together wins and reach the top of the division, it's now. 

The Tigers, however, are dealing with horrific injury luck. On the pitching side, it was announced this week that the club's leader in wins and strikeouts, Matthew Boyd, will have season-ending Tommy John surgery. The Tigers have started 12 different pitchers in the first 80 games because of injuries to the staff, including Eduardo Rodriguez and Spencer Turnbull. 

In the field, the Tigers remain without their best hitter in center fielder Riley Greene and corner outfielder, Akil Baddoo. The silver lining is that both of those players arrived in Toledo on Friday for a Triple-A rehab stint with the Mud Hens. If the Tigers start a winning streak against the inferior Rockies and A's, the reinforcements could arrive at the perfect time.

The other snag is that the Tigers have struggled to hit. As a team, they sport a batting average of just .229, tied with the Seattle Mariners for third to last in the league. The Tigers' 73 home runs are less than half of the league-leading Atlanta Braves' 147. Detroit should hope for first baseman Spencer Torkelson to stay hot after collecting five RBI in the Rangers series (including a pair of home runs in the finale) despite sitting for a game.