Sports in Seconds: Tigers are taking over in Mo-Town
It was only three years ago (2003) that the Detroit Tigers were the laughing stock of Major League Baseball (MLB), and broke the American League record of 119 losses in a single season.
But how times have changed for the men in Detroit. They have turned the entire franchise around and maintained first place in the American League (AL) Central division for the majority of the 2006 season.
Living between Detroit and Toronto my entire life, I was always pressured to root for the other local team, the Toronto Blue Jays. However even through the glory years of Toronto during the early 1990's, I still cheered, although quietly, for Detroit and maintained the hope that they would someday muster up some amount of respectability and credibility. Well I can finally say that that day has come.
Lost amongst the continuous coverage of the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees, the on-going steroid scandal and the pursuit of Hank Aaron's all-time homerun record by the quickly shrinking Barry Bonds, the Tigers are easily the feel good story of the summer for MLB.
Led by first-year manager Jim Leyland, who previously in his career led the Pittsburgh Pirates to the playoffs in 1992 and the Florida Marlins to the World Series title in 1997, the Tigers are going to have their first winning season since 1993.
Leyland said of his team, who at one point this season were 40 games above .500 and 10.5 games ahead in the AL Central division, that expectations were exceeded so far this season.
“I told everybody all along that we didn't expect to be 40 games over .500,” Leyland said in an interview for MLB.com. “We're somewhere in between. But we're a very good baseball team.”
Despite not having a legitimate superstar on their roster, besides future Hall of Famer' Ivan “Pudge” Rodriguez, the Tigers have truly utilized a combined team effort towards their success.
Offensively, Detroit is led by Magglio Ordonez whose .293 batting average leads the team, and relatively unknown's Marcus Thames, Craig Munroe, and Brandon Inge, who have 25, 24, and 23 homeruns respectively.
Detroit owns the AL's best pitching staff of which has a major league leading 3.71 team Earned Run Average (ERA). Standing out amongst the Tigers pitchers is rookie starter Justin Verlander.
Verlander, whose 16 wins and 3.19 ERA are tops for Detroit, is the odds on favourite to win the AL Rookie of the Year Award and should also be considered for the Cy Young Award for the AL's top pitcher overall.
So although I don't have a binder filled with baseball cards of the 2006 version of the Tigers, and believe me I do for the lowly Tigers from about 1989 to 1992, I still feel a sense of pride for the boys from Mo-town this season.
Even if their current slide, 10 wins and 22 losses since August 7th, results in Detroit falling out of playoff contention, it has still been very enjoyable to see the Tigers actually be in the hunt for the pennant and create a long-awaited buzz around Detroit for baseball.
But how times have changed for the men in Detroit. They have turned the entire franchise around and maintained first place in the American League (AL) Central division for the majority of the 2006 season.
Living between Detroit and Toronto my entire life, I was always pressured to root for the other local team, the Toronto Blue Jays. However even through the glory years of Toronto during the early 1990's, I still cheered, although quietly, for Detroit and maintained the hope that they would someday muster up some amount of respectability and credibility. Well I can finally say that that day has come.
Lost amongst the continuous coverage of the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees, the on-going steroid scandal and the pursuit of Hank Aaron's all-time homerun record by the quickly shrinking Barry Bonds, the Tigers are easily the feel good story of the summer for MLB.
Led by first-year manager Jim Leyland, who previously in his career led the Pittsburgh Pirates to the playoffs in 1992 and the Florida Marlins to the World Series title in 1997, the Tigers are going to have their first winning season since 1993.
Leyland said of his team, who at one point this season were 40 games above .500 and 10.5 games ahead in the AL Central division, that expectations were exceeded so far this season.
“I told everybody all along that we didn't expect to be 40 games over .500,” Leyland said in an interview for MLB.com. “We're somewhere in between. But we're a very good baseball team.”
Despite not having a legitimate superstar on their roster, besides future Hall of Famer' Ivan “Pudge” Rodriguez, the Tigers have truly utilized a combined team effort towards their success.
Offensively, Detroit is led by Magglio Ordonez whose .293 batting average leads the team, and relatively unknown's Marcus Thames, Craig Munroe, and Brandon Inge, who have 25, 24, and 23 homeruns respectively.
Detroit owns the AL's best pitching staff of which has a major league leading 3.71 team Earned Run Average (ERA). Standing out amongst the Tigers pitchers is rookie starter Justin Verlander.
Verlander, whose 16 wins and 3.19 ERA are tops for Detroit, is the odds on favourite to win the AL Rookie of the Year Award and should also be considered for the Cy Young Award for the AL's top pitcher overall.
So although I don't have a binder filled with baseball cards of the 2006 version of the Tigers, and believe me I do for the lowly Tigers from about 1989 to 1992, I still feel a sense of pride for the boys from Mo-town this season.
Even if their current slide, 10 wins and 22 losses since August 7th, results in Detroit falling out of playoff contention, it has still been very enjoyable to see the Tigers actually be in the hunt for the pennant and create a long-awaited buzz around Detroit for baseball.
