Whoever made that statement didn’t do their homework, they just assumed that the Tigers basically played their own division early in the season, which is simply not true.
They swept the Red Sox when they still had Bregman. They won series from the Padres the Yankees and the Blue Jays, St Louis, the Cubs and the Giants. Lazy banter by a lazy poser who only understands the mystique of big money, big names, big reputations, and aiming their sophistries at the rabble.