How Was The Game? (April 3, 2013)
It turned into a sneaky pitcher’s duel, but slipped away at the end.
Twins 3, Tigers 2
You wouldn’t have expected it in the early goings, but this one actually turned into a low scoring affair. Sanchez had trouble with his control early, but both he and Kevin Correia had good movement on their pitches and kept both teams off the basepaths for the most part. Sanchez, like Verlander on Monday, went only 5 innings but didn’t allow any runs. Leyland mixed and matched out of the pen again for 12 outs, ultimately calling on Phil Coke to finish the game. Unfortunately, things didn’t go well. Coke came on with a man on first and allowed a single to right center and then a walk off double to left center. The double should have been caught but Dirks and Jackson both expected the other to make the play. It would have been a game-tying sac fly anyway, but the winning run wouldn’t have scored. The strikezone was pretty generous all day, but that didn’t bother Austin Jackson who worked a 10 pitch, 2-out walk in the 3rd inning to set up the Tigers first run of the game. This game didn’t feature great pitching, but it featured effective pitching in front of one of the smallest crowds ever at Target Field and provided us with the first Phil Coke Finger Point of the new year. Rick Porcello will take the hill tomorrow at 1pm and will try to win the series before saddling up and heading to Detroit for the home opener Friday.
The Moment: Jackson works a 10-pitch walk with 2-outs in the 3rd.
How Was The Game? (April 1, 2013)
[Our daily recaps at New English D will follow this mold for the rest of the season. The first line will be the answer to the question that my mom used to pose to me any time I got home from a game. She’d ask, “how was the game?” Here, I’ll answer that question, give you the score, and provide the type of summary I would to her in a paragraph or two.]
It was baseball.
Tigers 4, Twins 2
The Tigers got off to a good start scoring two runs in the first and one in the second before both pitchers settled in during the middle innings. Verlander was good (0 R, 2 BB, 7K) but scarce, only throwing 5 innings and 91 pitches. Smyly didn’t have good command out of the bullpen but didn’t let the game unravel either before yielding to Alburquerque, Benoit, and Coke to get the final eight outs. Hunter had a nice showing in his Tigers debut and Fielder, Peralta, and Infante joined him with multi hit games of their own.
It probably wasn’t the best played game of the day, but it was just really good to have the Tigers back in our lives. We’ll have to keep our eye on Smyly out of the pen and if this was just a one time blip or if he’s having trouble getting loose mid-game. I’m a big fan of the way Leyland played the matchups rather than looking to fit guys into defined roles early. The weather made it tough on everyone, but the Tigers took care of the Twins on Opening Day and improved to 1-0 on the season.
The Moment: Prince Fielder sliding on his face while scoring on a wild pitch.
Five Things to Watch in April
Due to the glorious reality that we now have actual baseball to watch and dissect rather than just future baseball to dissect, we can start to look for early seasons indications of how the season is going to turn out.
Here are five Tigers-related things I’ll be looking for in the early days.
1. Rick Porcello’s Breaking Ball
Porcello was the subject of lots of trade rumors and fifth starter battles, but he has silenced his critics with a strong spring for the time being. He dumped his slider for a curveball this season and the results have been great. In 2012, opposing batters hit .394 against his slider for a lot more power, but the early returns on the curveball have been promising. He had a great spring (not that you should put much stock in the numbers) and the curveball was a much better compliment to his fastball. The velocity separation was bigger and it kept hitters off balance. If Porcello can continue to utilize that pitch against bona fide big leaguers, he could tick his strikeout numbers up and turn into the #2/#3 starter that he was projected to be. Frankly, he’s been a 2-3 WAR pitcher over the last few seasons, so he’s already good enough for most rotations. If he develops into anything more (remember he’s still 24), he could be a borderline All-Star.
2. Andy Dirks’ Bat
The Tigers everyday left fielder had a phenomenal slash line last season (.322/.370/.487) but only played in 88 games due to injury. Those numbers are relatively consistent with his minor league numbers, so we have reason to believe the 27 year old lefty can produce like this again, but the MLB sample size is small. Hitting in the midst of a strong lineup should help, but I’ll be looking to see if Andy Dirks is really this good, or if the truth is hiding behind last year’s small sample. A lot of scouts see Dirks as a really good fourth outfielder, but I’m a fan of his skills and think he can stick as a third outfielder on a good club.
3. Torii Hunter’s BABIP
Hunter had his best big league season by WAR and batting average last year, but a lot of that was driven by an unusually high batting average on balls in play (BABIP). Typically, you expect to see a number around .300 with the game’s best hitters leaning toward .330 or .340. You generally don’t see players, especially older ones improving on their BABIPs outside of randomness, meaning any big one year spike should be observed with caution. Hunter had such a spike last year, posting a .389 BABIP on a .307 career mark. Most people see those numbers and think Hunter was the recipient of good fortune last year and was not as good as his numbers indicate. He’s always been a good defender, but is he actually as good as his last season at the plate? Probably not, but that’s okay. He’s a 2-3 WAR corner outfielder replacing Brennan Boesch who was a -1 WAR player last year. Even if Hunter isn’t a 5 WAR player this season, he’ll still be good. But keep an eye on Hunter’s BABIP. If it’s high and stays that way, it may indicate a change in approach in his old age for the better.
4. Alex Avila’s Power
The difference between Avila’s 2011 (4.6 WAR) and 2012 (2.4) is twofold. One was health (141 games to 116). The other was power (.506 SLG to .384). A lot of people focus on batting average, but walking is such a big part of his game that average obscures the truth. Even last year, he got on base at a .352 clip, which is very good despite a .243 average. He’s probably not going to be the .295 hitter he was in 2011, but if he gets some of that power back, he’ll be as good as he needs to be. A catcher who gets on base at a .350 to .360 rate with .440 to .460 slugging is a hugely valuable asset given his quality defense. If Avila is driving the ball for extra bases early and his knees aren’t sapping his power in April, the Tigers can rest easy knowing 2013 will look more like 2011 than 2012 for Avila.
5. Max Scherzer’s Delivery
I’ve said on many occasions that the key to Scherzer taking the leap from really good stuff and pretty good results to top flight starter was his ability to keep his delivery in line pitch after pitch. Last season, he started to put it all together and led qualifiers in K/9. If he can keep on that path, he could be an All-Star with borderline Cy Young stuff. If he gets out of whack, we’ll know he’s likely always going to have that flaw. He has a lot of moving parts when he winds up, so an early season showing that Scherzer can repeat his delivery will bode well for the Tigers’ fortunes this year.
What are some other important things to watch in April? Let us know what you think in the comments or on Facebook.
Ernie Harwell Brings You Opening Day
Every year, Ernie used to read this quotation from the Song of Solomon on Opening Day. Yesterday, I heard a priest recite this in Ernie’s name in reference to the rebirth of baseball, Spring, and Easter.
For, lo, the winter is past,
The rain is over and gone;
The flowers appear on the earth;
The time of the singing of birds is come,
And the voice of the turtle is heard in our land.
Go Tigers.
Check back after the game for the first edition of How Was the Game?
This Could Be The Year
Every year could be the year. Even this one. Especially this one.
That’s what we’re all thinking as the baseball season begins today. During this time of year, there is still a chance for all of us. Tigers, Nationals, Twins, and Rockies fans alike all share in this feeling.
Until proven otherwise, every team could go the distance this year. This could be the year.
It’s an annual tradition that we never fail to observe. I wrote about it last year, right about this time, for the Eastern Echo. I wrote of the hope that comes in Spring, both for those who should be hopeful and for those who have nothing better to do than be hopeful.
It’s a hopeful time of year.
Last year around this time, my entire life was changing. I was graduating, getting married, and moving away to start graduate school 700 miles from the baseball team that anchored me so firmly. It was a hopeful time after a long, arduous winter ahead of a summer of upheaval.
And that hope was rewarded with a great season and run deep into October that made me feel close to home while I was far away.
The view from a year later is much clearer. Much less tumultuous, but no less hopeful. The last year for me has been a good one, but it was also taxing and trying. The stress and anxiety that came with such big changes dampened some of the joy that one might expect to find in a baseball team that comes within four wins of a World Series.
Which makes this Spring, this moment, sweeter. Those changes are behind me and with unclouded eyes, I can embrace the 2013 season and the prospect of a title. It’s almost as if the Tigers were waiting for me. I had to take the next step before they would.
The two aren’t connected, but I’m going to believe that they are because, damn it, this is the time of year when everything makes sense. The sun shines brighter and the prospects of a glorious summer are unrestrained.
This could be the year. For the Tigers. For me. For anything.
I’m a pretty rational and analytical person, a true child of the enlightenment. But sometimes, and this is one of those times, the romantic in me emerges. Things are bigger than us and the world is a magical place full of wonder. Sure we can debate all the reasons something shouldn’t happen, but is there anything better than watching a team who has no business winning a division title pour out onto the field to celebrate that title?
I mean, it’s hard not to get romantic about baseball. We all know that. It overwhelms us sometimes. When Adam Greenberg gets another at bat after getting hit in the head after his first and only prior at bat, that’s when it’s hard not to get romantic.
Or when Darrin Downs takes the mound three years after a fractured skull nearly killed him. That’s when it’s hard not to get romantic about baseball.
When your team sprays champagne and the grumpy old man who managers the team starts crying like a baby and waxing poetic about your city, that’s when it’s hard not to get romantic about baseball.
So I’m getting romantic in anticipation about all of that. About the flyover before Opening Day and the crowd on their feet for the nobody journeyman closing in on a no-hitter. About the kid from a small town about to take the big stage for the first time. About the fathers and sons sharing a game for the first time. About watching your team finally, finally hoisting the trophy.
Right now, at this moment, all of that can happen. It will happen. For some of us at least. My hope for all of you, as it always is, is that your faith will be rewarded.
This could be the year, it really, really could.
Justin Verlander Had a Big Day
Well folks, what we’ve all been expecting to happened has finally happened. Justin Verlander will be a Tiger (essentially) for life. Today he (effectively) signed the largest contract ever for a pitcher, coming in at a cool 7 years and $180 million with a vesting option for 2020 worth $22 million, for a potential total of $202 million, surpassing Felix Hernandez’s 7 year, $175 million deal from earlier this offseason.
After the Felix deal, I discussed what I thought Verlander was worth and guessed at what he would earn. I figured 8 years and $210 million if he signed this early, but it now looks like the Tigers effectively signed a seven year deal with an option for an eighth given that he is already under contract for 2013-2014. We can debate about whether or not that is a fair comparison, but let’s just think about the deal.
The Tigers now have Verlander through age 36 (37 with the option) and will pay him close to $26 million a season on average. Given the current going rate for a win above replacement (WAR), Verlander needs to be worth around 5 WAR per season on average to earn his keep, but that’s before we adjust for contract inflation which will likely mean he will need to average somewhere around 4.5 WAR per season for the rest of his career.
For now, that should be pretty easy given that he’s been averaging 6 WAR or better for the last four seasons, but we should expect some regression as he ages near the end of the deal. So long as he stays healthy and ages relatively well, the Tigers won’t regret this from a purely baseball perspective.
But it’s more than that. On the field, he’ll probably earn this deal or close to it given his skill level and durability, but he’s also worth a lot to the Tigers as a brand. If you go to Comerica Park, you’ll see more Verlander gear on fans than any other player. He’s the face of the franchise and a huge moneymaker in the pro shop. Plus he’s such a big supporter of the city and fan base as a whole.
I haven’t thought about this enough to be sure, but I’m not sure there is a more beloved athlete by his home fans than Verlander in sports right now. Maybe Tom Brady. Maybe Derek Jeter. But it’s a short list of contenders for a few key reasons. First, Verlander is homegrown. He’s only ever played for the Tigers. Second, he has absolutely no off-field problems like Kobe Bryant or Miguel Cabrera. Third, he embraces the relationship. Fourth, he is really good at baseball.
So I love this deal. It’s a fair price for the Tigers and Verlander gets to become the richest pitcher in the game until Kershaw signs his extension. But I love it because it means Justin Verlander, likely the greatest Tiger of my lifetime thus far, will be a Tiger for his entire career. He will go into Cooperstown having played for only one team. That’s rare today and it demonstrates a level of loyalty that is important to me.
I love athletes who are loyal to their team. Verlander has now locked in that status for life. The Dodgers or Yankees might have offered him more after 2014, but the Tigers offered him enough now, so he took it. He’ll spend the rest of his playing days trying to bring titles to the city that he loves, and more importantly the city that adores him.
If you’re not a Tigers fan, you might not have a good understanding. When Verlander is on the mound, Detroit (and Michigan) stop. When people say, “When’s he pitching next?” you don’t have to ask who they mean.
When he throws a gem, the standing ovation is on another level. We love Justin Verlander in a way that we can’t love most athletes anymore. Either their bad people in the private lives or they jump ship for more money or more glamour. Justin Verlander is neither. They don’t build statues for people who leave town for more money and they can start building his statue now.
He’s the real deal. If he blows out his elbow in two years, I won’t look back on this deal as a mistake. At this moment in time, he is worth it. He’s more worth it than any other pitcher in the game and he means more to Detroit than he ever would to anyone else.
Justin Verlander will be a Tiger for life. He will, for now, be the richest pitcher on the planet. Opening Day is in three days and his first home start should be eight days from now. I promise you, when he leads the team onto the field with “Til I Collapse” playing on the stadium speakers, Comerica Park could cave in.
Detroit has always loved Justin Verlander. Now we know he loves us too.
Editor’s Note: This was perhaps not even the coolest thing JV did today. See below.
Worth Optioned, Tigers Set for April
That’s it folks. Coming in hot off the presses, by which I mean Twitter, the Tigers have locked in their Opening Day roster.
It’s no surprise that Danny Worth was the odd man out, because Santiago makes more money and doesn’t have options left, despite probably being the better player at this point in time. Worth will be back soon enough.
The bigger news today was that Bruce Rondon failed to make the team and will start the year in Toledo with the Tigers going to closer by committee for the foreseeable future. I don’t like how they handled Rondon, but I am a big fan of closer by committee, so I can’t hate this too much. If Leyland actually sticks to a committee, this is going to be awesome to watch.
Pena, Kelly, and Tuiasosopo round out the bench and Downs locked down the final bullpen spot for now.
The rest of the team was pretty well set from the start and everyone remains healthy for the time being. It’s hard not to like the team on paper, with countless projection systems and prognosticators picking them to be one of the best teams in the league and the surest bet to make the playoffs of any club.
This time Monday, we’ll be watching the first game of the season and dreaming on what this team could do.
Not long now, friends. Not long at all.
2013 Preseason Awards: American League Cy Young
In continuing our preseason awards series, we have arrived at the boring one. Sorry about that, but these things happen. Sometimes the pick is too obvious and the drama is lacking. This is one of those times.
On Sunday, I ran down our list of the The Nine Best AL Starters for 2013 and there are a lot of great names on that list. Felix Hernandez, David Price, Yu Darvish, and my breakout pick Matt Moore are all going to make a run at the top pitching honor in the AL, but the award will be outside their grasp.
And the award will go to…
A photo from directly above the author’s desk.
Justin Verlander (SP – Tigers)
You knew this was coming. Verlander enters his eighth major league season as the front man of one of the best, if not the best, rotations in all of baseball. He’s been a machine and continues to mix dominance with durability.
He has run off four 6 WAR or better season in a row and has a Cy Young and MVP from his 2011 campaign. Heck, he should have won another Cy Young last season.
Verlander is the best pitcher on the planet, and there are really only a handful of guys who really compare. Anything can happen, but it usually doesn’t. Usually, Goliath beats David and the Soviet Union wins the 1980 Gold Medal.
This seems like one of those times. Justin Verlander is simply too good at throwing a baseball to not pick him for the Cy Young. I just couldn’t pick anyone else, even if I wanted to. It’s certainly possible that he doesn’t win the award in 2013, but if I picked anyone else I would simply be making a bold prediction just for the sake of doing so, and I hate people who do that.
Justin Verlander is the best starting pitcher in the American League until someone proves otherwise.
2013 Detroit Tigers Season Preview
Well folks, the time has come. Less than two weeks from now, the Tigers will be at Target Field taking on the Twins and getting the 2013 season under way. It has seemed like a quiet offseason for the defending AL champs, but they actually made some big moves by signing Torii Hunter to a two year deal and re-upping with Anibal Sanchez for five seasons.
The Tigers have two consecutive division titles under their belts and a pennant flying this season for their work thwarting the rest of the AL in 2012. With essentially the entire team coming back in addition to the aforementioned additions and a healthy Victor Martinez, all signs point to another big season for the Tigers. Things can go wrong, but the expectation surely is that the Tigers will repeat as AL Central champs.
You can read my AL Central preview here, my preseason power rankings here, and my standings prediction here, all of which point to my agreement with the conventional wisdom about the Tigers chances. I think they’re going to be very good and a force with which to be reckoned. Here’s why.
The Starting Pitching
The Tigers have six starters who belong in a major league rotation. The staff is led by Justin Verlander, who is the best pitcher in the game according to most, and backed up by three pitchers who can make a strong claim to #2 starter status: Doug Fister, Max Scherzer, and Anibal Sanchez. Those potential number twos are the strength of the rotation because it makes them extremely deep. It would surprise no one if any of those pitchers accomplished something close to a 4 WAR season (they’ve all done it before), and it would be incredible if they all managed to do it.
Think about this, Verlander is the oldest member of the rotation. The Tigers have three pitchers in their primes with a history of strong performance behind the game’s best starter. That’s pretty good.
And then there are Rick Porcello and Drew Smyly. Both of which deserve to start this season. I wrote here that I’d go with Porcello and he is making his case this Spring with an excellent strikeout to walk ratio and a much better breaking ball. To his credit, Smyly isn’t struggling either. It’s a good problem to have.
I would argue the Tigers have the best rotation in baseball and I can’t make a case for them being any worse than third entering the season. In the next two weeks, the Tigers are going to trade, send to the pen, or demote a pitcher capable of a 2-3 win season. That should be all you need to know.
The Lineup
At this point, it just sounds like I’m naming parts of a baseball team, but the lineup is very good. Austin Jackson was a top five AL outfielder last season and is joined by fellow top ten AL outfielder Torii Hunter at the top of the lineup. If that wasn’t enough, MVP and elite hitter Miguel Cabrera follows them, sitting ahead of Prince Fielder and Victor Martinez.
If there is a better first five hitters in the sport, I haven’t found them. Behind that force lurks the underrated Andy Dirks, the on-base machine Alex Avila, and the poised for a bounce back Jhonny Peralta. Omar Infante will hit ninth and hopefully prevent anyone whining about second base this season.
The Tigers are blessed with exceptional depth on the bench, but the overall quality of the lineup is impressive. They can’t replace many of their players, but they should be able to weather one serious injury at a time without much problem. Every player in the Tigers lineup has either been an All-Star or had an All-Star type season very recently with the exception of Dirks. The infield defense is sub par, but with a much improved outfield defense and strikeout inclined starters, they can probably outslug any problems.
Experience
On occasion, pundits overrate the value of experience over talent, but in the Tigers case, it should help. The Tigers have been to the playoffs in consecutive seasons with a very similar roster and the experience of having worked through long seasons with trials and tribulations should play to their advantage. The Tigers players should be well conditioned for October baseball after seeing what it takes to keep themselves in top condition over the last two seasons deep into the Fall.
The Leadership
Again, this is a quality that is somewhat controversial, but the Tigers have a lot of personalities in their clubhouse that will nurture a winning environment. Losing streaks will be handled appropriately and there shouldn’t be any infighting or problems. Victor Martinez’s presence will be welcomed back this season along with the addition of Hunter and the ever-present Jim Leyland, whom everyone seems to adore. Experience and leadership are hard to measure, but if they matter at all, they should work in the Tigers favor.
The Bullpen, Even the Bullpen
I wrote at length recently about why Rondon will succeed as the closer and why it doesn’t matter if he doesn’t. Benoit, Dotel, Coke, Downs, Below, Putkonen, and others are all available out of the pen. The Tigers don’t have anyone like Craig Kimbrel or Aroldis Chapman, but they have many, many pitchers who could be solid, reliable relievers. The position is volatile and unpredictable, but the Tigers are well stocked with potential arms in the pen. They won’t lead the league in bullpen-ness, but they won’t be bad.
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I don’t think it is too bold to say that the Tigers are among the best teams, on paper, entering the 2013 season. I would argue they are the second best team, behind Washington. Things can always go wrong, but they go wrong for every team. I always hedge and say that so long as the Tigers are no less unfortunate than their competitors, they should win the division quite easily.
The Royals and Indians are better and the White Sox aren’t pushovers, but the Tigers are the class of the Central. With upheaval in the East and a strong West, the road to another pennant will be trying, but it is certainly within the Tigers’ grasp.
With elite level star power in Verlander, Cabrera, Fielder, and others, it’s hard not to dream on the Tigers 2013 potential. They have it all, including a chip on their shoulders after a poor showing in the Fall Classic.
For the Tigers, this could be the year that the roar is officially restored.
Happy 10th Birthday, 2003 Tigers!
It was ten years ago that the worst baseball team of the last generation, perhaps of the last half century, began their season in earnest. Here are the facts.
The team, managed by Alan Trammell, went 43-119. They scored 591 runs and allowed 928. They finished a whopping 47 games out of first place in the AL Central. Somehow, the Tigers still outdrew Tampa Bay in 2003.
But it was so much more than the bare facts. It was year two of the Dombrowski administration and year one of the three year experiment with Trammell at the helm. It was the bottom of the bottom.
119 losses.
The only offensive player to post higher than 1.0 WAR was Dmitri Young (2.1). The position players, as a whole, posted a negative 0.7 WAR. The only team of position players to be worse in my lifetime was the 1998 Twins (-2.0).
The pitching was better, if you can call it that. The pitchers combined for a 3.8 WAR, which is only 12th worst since 1990. But for perspective, let’s remember that 25 individual pitchers posted WARs of 3.8 or higher last season.
That’s really terrible.
Let’s add a little context. Who was this team? Who played the most at each position? Ladies and gentleman, your 2003 Detroit Tigers!
Catcher: Brandon Inge
First Base: Carlos Pena
Second Base: Warren Morris
Shortstop: Ramon Santiago
Third Base: Eric Munson
Left Field: Craig Monroe
Center Field: Alex Sanchez
Right Field: Bobby Higginson
Designated Hitter: Dmitri Young
I don’t know, that isn’t so bad. If I was evaluating that offense, I’d consider them one of the worst four teams in the league, but I don’t think I’d put them down for 119 losses or anything. The pitching staff?
Nate Cornejo, Mike Maroth, and Jeremy Bonderman pitched full seasons and Adam Bernero, Gary Knotts, Matt Roney, Wil Ledezma, Nate Robertson, Chris Mears, and Shane Loux all made several starts. Some of those guys had decent runs in their careers, but none of them happened during 2003. If this was my rotation in 2013, I would probably be looking for a new one.
So these names are certainly a blast from the past. Lots of Tigers from the days before the Tigers were Verlander and Cabrera.
The 2003 Tigers were very terrible. It was sad and comical and a mess. But there is another side of the story that we often divorce from this team.
This was the beginning of the baseball renaissance in Detroit. It was this terrible season that earned the Tigers the #2 pick in the 2004 draft (At this time, the first pick alternated leagues so the Padres went first).
With that pick, the Tigers chose Justin Verlander and everything began to change.
Dombrowski chose Verlander, who is now the Tigers ace. They signed Pudge Rodriguez that offseason and traded for Carlos Guillen. Both played major roles in the Tigers resurgence.
Then Magglio Ordonez came to town. The Tigers took a chance on him when no one wanted to and he rewarded them greatly. And then there was Kenny Rogers and Jim Leyland. And breakout seasons from Inge and Granderson. Monroe and Thames.
DD took Maybin and Miller in the 2005 and 2006 drafts and later turned them into Miguel Cabrera.
A magical run in 2006 came before a string of extended success. The Tigers have finished below .500 just once since that 2006 season.
The seeds of the current powerhouse, big spending, contending Tigers were planted among the ashes of the 2003 Tigers. The hapless, terrible 2003 Tigers gave us Justin Verlander, and soon, a real winner.
Mike Illitch brought in Dave Dombrowski who showed Mr. I what a winner could look like in Detroit. Now Illitch backs up the money truck and fans storm the turnstiles. Detroit is a place for premier free agents. Fans have astronomical expectations each season and anything short of 90 wins seems like a disaster. People revere the Old English D instead of pity it now.
This wonderful run of baseball at Comerica Park happened for a lot of reasons, but the 2003 Tigers deserve some credit. They were so bad that things finally started to change. Verlander through the draft. Pudge through a mitzvah of his own. Maggs as the marriage of a broken player and a team looking for a savior.
Then the floodgates opened. Cabrera and Fielder and Scherzer and Fister. Anibal Sanchez, Torii Hunter, Alex Avila.
Just ten years ago, the Tigers were drawing poorly and losing more games than any American League team ever had. But then, as it usually does in times of great struggle, everything changed.
Maybe that never happens if the Tigers hadn’t bottomed out like they did. We’ll never know. But as we “celebrate” the ten year anniversary of the worst team I’ll ever cheer for, let’s also remember it was that devastation that led to this great era of Tigers baseball.
The Tigers enter the 2013 season as the division favorites and World Series contenders after back to back playoff berths and an AL Pennant, but they do so on the backs of a 119 loss club that came ten years before.
Here’s to the 2003 Tigers. Happy birthday, guys.
New English D 