It’s their destiny.
In 2006, the Tigers were a young, PFP-less team that satisfied their fan base by merely making it to the World Series. Magglio Ordonez’s walk off home run in Game 4 of the ALCS to send the Tigers to their first World Series since 1984 seemed to take all the celebration out of the team and its fanbase. Obviously, I would’ve loved to see them win the World Series that year — and I still believe they should’ve won it all — but 2006 was nonetheless extremely special for a fan who had gone through so much Tigers’ futility in his life.
Five years later, the Tigers are back in the postseason, but on a little bit different terms. This time they clinched by winning their first Central Division title, which they had blown in the final days of the 2006 season, and they’re now boasting a much better lineup and rotation on paper. Verlander, who was a rookie in 2006, is a veteran who has discovered how to pitch like the ace that his stuff always indicated he’d be, and Doug Fister is better than anyone else the Tigers had five year ago. Of course, I don’t think what Kenny Rogers did in ’06 can be duplicated, but if there’s one guy who could do it, it’s Verlander now.
Additionally, everything has gone right for the Tigers leading up to the playoffs. They made a couple under the radar moves around the trade deadline that have turned out to be game-changers [the following taken straight from the preview]:
Doug Fister is 8-1 with a 1.79 ERA in 70 1/3 innings with Detroit and, as Verlander says, is overpowering people with overpowering stuff. Delmon Young has eight homers in 40 games after only having four all year with the Twins and is hitting more in line with his breakout 2010 season, too. Betemit, who replaced Brandon Inge’s Mendoza line, is hitting .292/.346/.871 since being acquired.
And the trades also provided a punch in the arm to the rest of the team, too. Magglio Ordonez, who was hitting .223/.280/.576 at the time of the Delmon trade, has hit .385/.397/.874 since, facing mostly just lefties, as he will against the Yanks. Even lost-hitter Brandon Inge is hitting .278/.355/.799 since being recalled from Triple-A Toledo in mid-August. The already perennial MVP candidate Miguel Cabrera since Delmon Young was plugged in front of him in the lineup? A .421/.520/1.196 hitting line with seven home runs and 30 RBI.
In all, the Tigers’ roster touts not just one, but a group of some of the best players at their respective positions in baseball: Justin Verlander, Miguel Cabrera, Victor Martinez, Alex Avila, Jhonny Peralta, Austin Jackson, and Jose Valverde. Other teams can’t list as extensive of a list.
Unlike 2006, fans kind of expect the Tigers to beat the Yankees, who have home field advantage again, and march all the way to the World Series. Anything less would be an absolute disappointment this time around.
And, like I said, it’s destiny, man.
The Tigers won nine games in a row this year; the last time they did that was 1984 when they won the World Series. The Tigers then won their 10th game in a row the next night — the last time they did that was in 1968 … a year they won the World Series. Then, they won their 11th straight. And 12th. The last time they did that was in 1934 — a year they LOST in the World Series.
The next time the Tigers have an 11 or 12-game winning streak, I think they’ll be able to say the last time that happened was when the Tigers WON the World Series, just like the teams that previously achieved 9 and 10 straight wins before them.
Eat ’em up Tigers.
