If we were to travel back in time to July 31, the day the Detroit Tigers acquired David Price, and tell our trade deadline selves what occurred Sunday, nobody would believe it.
The Tigers, the team that formed a starting rotation with the past three AL Cy Young winners, were swept out of the 2014 postseason. And they didn't even win a single game. Those three Cy Young winners — Price, Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander — were no match in the ALDS for the Baltimore Orioles, the injury-ravaged team that ran away with the AL East.
Three Cy Youngs, we thought back on July 31, how is anyone going to beat them in a five-game series?*Three Cy Youngs, we thought when they clinched their division on the last day of the regular season, they'll be fine. They're built for the postseason.
The reality: Only Verlander — the weakest link of the three Cy Youngs during the regular season — didn't take a loss in his ALDS start. Scherzer gave up seven hits and five runs in Detroit's lopsided 12-3 loss in Game 1. The Tigers' dumpster-fire bullpen made it even worse in Scherzer's start, just like it did when Verlander pitched.
He left Game 2 with a lead even though he gave up three runs on six hits in five innings, but the bullpen bobbled it away. Price pitched eight full innings Sunday, giving up just two runs on five hits. But the Tigers pushed only one run across the plate, and that happened in the ninth.
Pic of jerseys of the #Tigers' 3 Cy Young winners, each of them crossed out, in the #Orioles clubhouse. pic.twitter.com/JPgOIsMUPj
— Eduardo A. Encina (@EddieInTheYard) October 6, 2014
"It's disappointing," Tigers manager Brad Ausmus said after Sunday's loss. "You feel like you let the fans down and you feel like you let the organization down. ... So it's disappointing, no question. But there is nothing we can do about it now."
None of this is to say the Detroit starting pitching was solely to blame for their sweep. The Tigers broke down on many levels — their relief pitchers gave 10 runs in 4 2/3 ALDS innings, leadoff man Ian Kinsler had only one hit and one walk in the series and on Sunday they couldn't scrape together any offense against Orioles pitcher Bud Norris, he of the 4.23 career ERA.
CY YA LATER pic.twitter.com/p8iuan5sn4
— Eutaw St. Report (@EutawStReport) October 5, 2014
So don't blame just Scherzer, Verlander and Price. But when a team has such a distinct on-paper advantage as three Cy Young-winning pitchers at the top of its rotation, and it can't win a postseason series, let alone win a game, nobody's going to let them forget that for a long time.

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Mike Oz is an editor for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @MikeOz