Justin Verlander looked great for the 2nd start in a row. Coincidentally, that was when the Tigers noticed a flaw in his pitching mechanics. Apparently, he was leaning slightly back before delivery lately, and this had a tremendous negative impact on his pitching. Once this was discovered and corrected, he has been a new man.
Verlander The Workhorse

He put in serious work today, throwing almost 130 pitches. After going 6 2/3 and allowing one run with 10 strikeouts, Leyland pulled him at just the right time. Yet another quality start leads to a Tigers win. I’m seeing a pattern here.

If Robertson gets consistent, and Bonderman and Verlander continue in their recent manner, they give the Tigers a good shot down the stretch. Rumor has it that Kenny Rogers might be activated off the DL Wednesday. Depending on how he looks, The Tigers just might squeak into the playoffs where they could do some serious damage with a healthy (finally) starting pitching staff, reenergized bullpen and a return of Gary Sheffield to the line-up.

The flip side of that is The Indians are showing no signs of letting up, leaving The Tigers to chase a slumping Seattle and the Yankees for the Wildcard spot. Seattle looks like they are dying a slow death, so it really depends on if Detroit can make up those 3 games on New York before September runs out.