Well, as of today (9/12) the Tigers stand 1.5 games ahead of the surging Twins and 3 games up on the Chi Sox. Lets analyze. At one point the Tigers were 10 games up in the division, they had the best record in baseball for the majority of the year, and currently the Tigers have gone 10-22 in their last 32 games (the only team worse in that 32 game stretch being the Cubs at 9-23). Now given all that, Tigers fans have a few ways they can react:

1. Panic-"Oh, God, why must you torture us with visions of the 84' team and thoughts of the playoffs and even maybe the World Series, and then take it all away?"

2. Acceptance-"Well, what if the Tigers had started the season 10-22 and then made a playoff push to be 1.5 games up at this point. We'd be singing a different tune, right? Plus, Isn't this year a whole lot better than the past 13 in which they didn't even finish over .500, regardless of whether they make the playoffs this year?"

3. Confidence-"What about this: The Tigers have 18 games remaining, 12 of those 18 are at home. 9 of the 18 are against the Orioles and the Royals. The Twins and Sox have much harder schedules then that to finish the year. What if the Tigers have all gone into a collective hitting slump at the same time, and then what if the bats all start coming back, then they would be firing on all cylinders and peaking once again, but this time right before the playoffs. Plus, we still have had excellent pitching down this stretch, with the exception of a few bullpen mishaps and a couple bad starts. The games they lost have all been fairly close, they just need a few more clutch hits at the right time."

Call me crazy, but I'm leaning on option 3. The drought has been to long for the Tigers and it would be to easy to point fingers and assess blame and come up with excuses as to why they won't win this year. But, darn it, why can't  they turn it  around? There is no reason they can't. Remember they still control their own destiny and I believe they will come back from this, make the playoffs and keep the faces of baseball fans in Michigan smiling into the month of October.