Detroit, MI
Tigers magic number update: Here’s when they can clinch AL Central Division
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Detroit Tigers are down to 13 games left in the 2025 MLB regular season. They still hold a commanding lead in the American League Central Division over the Cleveland Guardians, but the Tigers (84-65) are just 6-12 in their past 18 games and have been sloppy recently.
They are no longer the top seed in the AL playoffs, losing ground to the Toronto Blue Jays.
But what’s the Tigers’ magic number in the AL Central?
The Tigers are 2-3 on this road trip, losing three in a row after Saturday’s wild 6-4 loss in 11 innings to the lowly Miami Marlins (70-79).
The Tigers still need to clinch a playoff spot, and they can do that with a good week of play coming up to seal the division, which would guarantee them homefield advantage in a playoff series.
What is the Tigers’ “magic number” to clinch the AL Central Division for the first time since 2014? Let’s break it down.
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Detroit Tigers magic number to clinch AL Central Division
Through Saturday, the Tigers’ magic number to clinch the division is 8 over the Cleveland Guardians (77-71), after the Tigers lost a heartbreaker to the Marlins, 6-4, in 11 innings. The Guardians beat the White Sox, 3-1.
The Tigers’ magic number to eliminate the third-place Kansas City Royals (74-75) from the division is 4.
The Guardians face the White Sox on Sunday before making the trip to Detroit for a three-game series.
How do you calculate a team’s magic number in baseball?
There are two different ways to determine a team’s magic number.
The first: 163 – (first-place team’s win total + second-place team’s loss total) = magic number. In the case of the Tigers, that’s 163 – (84+71). 163-155 = 8.
The second: Games remaining + 1 – (losses by second-place team – losses by first-place team) = magic number.
When could the Tigers clinch the division?
This depends on how the next series goes between the Tigers and Guardians at Comerica Park. Each win by the Tigers in that series chops two games off the Tigers’ magic number.
It’s looking more likely the Tigers might have to clinch in Cleveland in the first series of the final week. However, if the Tigers beat the Guardians in at least two games this week, they could have a chance to clinch the AL Central against the bumbling Atlanta Braves at Comerica Park over the weekend.
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Tigers schedule to end regular season
The Tigers have 13 games remaining in the regular season:
- at Marlins (Sept. 14).
- vs Guardians (Sept. 16-18).
- vs Braves (Sept. 19-21).
- at Guardians (Sept. 23-25).
- at Red Sox (Sept. 26-28).
When do the MLB playoffs 2025 begin?
- Tuesday, Sept. 30: Wild-card Game 1s.
- Saturday, Oct. 4: ALDS and NLDS Game 1s.
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Detroit, MI
Boos rain down on Red Wings after missing playoffs for 10th straight season
Detroit Red Wings missed the playoffs for the 10th consecutive season after 5-3 loss to New Jersey.
Red Wings missed the playoffs for the 10th consecutive season after 5-3 loss to New Jersey.
Detroit — The boos were loud and stinging and showed how frustrated Red Wings fans are.
They rained down after the Wings’ 5-3 loss to New Jersey, officially eliminating the Wings from the Stanley Cup playoffs, and during the final minutes as the Wings struggled to generate a goal and at least earn a point for the standings.
They didn’t score. They lost. And fans let them hear about it.
The Wings now own the longest streak of not making the playoffs in the NHL, at 10 consecutive seasons. Without a doubt, fans aren’t happy about it.
Coach and players understood the booing, accepted it as the fans simply not being happy with the same outcome now, season after season.
“This is Detroit, this is Hockeytown,” said coach Todd McLellan, who was an assistant coach on the Wings’ last Stanley Cup winning team in 2008. “I’ve been lucky enough to be on the other side of it, when they couldn’t stop cheering for this team. They’re dying for that. They crave that.
“That’s what they want, and I don’t even know if they want a Stanley Cup championship anymore. They just want a team that will come and give them something to cheer about.”
Players in the last few weeks referenced the “outside noise” from fans, alluding to the pressure or negativism from fans, and they have been attempting to keep it outside of the locker room.
The fans, said McLellan, have the right to express their opinions after 25 consecutive years of making the playoffs with four Stanley Cups during that timeframe.
“This outside noise stuff or whatever, that’s inside noise, those are our fans in our building and they pay to watch us play, and we get paid well to perform for them,” McLellan said. “They’re fulling entitled to their opinion and we deserve that opinion.
“There’s no other way to sugarcoat it. That’s what we earned.”
Captain Dylan Larkin said it was “difficult” to hear the booing.
“Our fans are great, they are passionate and they care about winning,” Larkin said. “There’s been some great years here and they want us back to that. That’s what they expect here.”
Lucas Raymond said it “stinks” to end the season the way the Wings did, and have fans boo at Little Caesars Arena.
“We had a clear goal coming into this year and we didn’t do it,” Raymond said. “We had plenty of opportunities throughout this season and especially down the stretch.”
McLellan feels the Wings need to do a better job of facing and conquering the pressure and challenge of meaningful games late in the season.
“I felt a little bit of that last year, I’ve lived a year of it now and it’s there,” said McLellan of the external pressure. “But we keep earning that. We earned that pressure and that outside (“noise”) but you can except the pressure as challenge or you can succumb to it and we seem to choose the second one (succumb to it).
“That’s the way it is and the only way you get out of it is, you work your way out of it.”
tkulfan@detroitnews.com
@tkulfan
Detroit Red Wings sign autographs after season’s final home game
Marco Kasper, Simon Edvinsson, Emmitt Finnie and the rest of the Red Wings signed hockey sticks for fans after the game
Detroit, MI
Metro Detroit Weather Forecast, April 11, 2026 — 8:15 AM Update
NEWS
4Warn Meteorologist Bryan Schuerman talks about the dry start to the weekend before rain and thunderstorm chances move back in by the end of the weekend.
The 4Warn Weather team tracks the latest weather alerts in Metro Detroit and Southeast Michigan. Get the most updated information here: https://www.clickondetroit.com/weather/
Detroit, MI
“Moon tree” in Metro Detroit rediscovered following Artemis II mission
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