I’ve been busting my buttons about the Tigers so far this year. After the abusive relationship I’ve had with the franchise for the past 13 years I am still waiting for reality to deliver a smack upside my head. “This time it will be different,” the Tigers tell me. “This time I’ve really changed.” Yeah, right. I’ve heard that before, but like the battered spouse that I am I’ll keep taking them back. I keep hoping that it’s for real this time. I believe because it’s too heart-breaking not to. No doubt the heart-break will come again, but at least for now there is hope. We suffer though seemingly endless bad days to bask in the warmth of these precious few good days. Maybe it’s because I grew with those endless Michigan winters.
Yesterday the Tigers finished a four game sweep in Kansas City with a come from behind victory. They have the best record in the majors (33-14), and for the first time since 1987 they are 19 games above .500. Everyone who is a Tiger fan knows the significance of 1987. 1987 is that last year the Tigers made the playoffs. WE WILL NOT TALK ABOUT WHAT HAPPENED AFTER THE REGULAR SEASON ENDED, but the Tigers had the best record in the majors that year at 98-64 (34 games above .500) and appeared to be back in the form that had netted them a World Series championship three years earlier.
Again the Tigers have the best record in baseball (albeit only the end of May), but there’s one number that sticks in my head: .479. That number is the combined winning percentage of all the teams they have played this year at the time the Tigers played them. It ranks 26th out of 30. The White Sox, who are only 1.5 games behind the Tigers, are ranked 30th at .456. In other words, the Tigers and the ChiSox have been playing soft schedules. Clearly I’m not the only one who has noticed this piece of trivia. ESPN.com’s power rankings for May 26th had this to say about the Tigers:
Power Rankings: Hold those Tigers ... at No. 2
Yesterday the Tigers finished a four game sweep in Kansas City with a come from behind victory. They have the best record in the majors (33-14), and for the first time since 1987 they are 19 games above .500. Everyone who is a Tiger fan knows the significance of 1987. 1987 is that last year the Tigers made the playoffs. WE WILL NOT TALK ABOUT WHAT HAPPENED AFTER THE REGULAR SEASON ENDED, but the Tigers had the best record in the majors that year at 98-64 (34 games above .500) and appeared to be back in the form that had netted them a World Series championship three years earlier.
Again the Tigers have the best record in baseball (albeit only the end of May), but there’s one number that sticks in my head: .479. That number is the combined winning percentage of all the teams they have played this year at the time the Tigers played them. It ranks 26th out of 30. The White Sox, who are only 1.5 games behind the Tigers, are ranked 30th at .456. In other words, the Tigers and the ChiSox have been playing soft schedules. Clearly I’m not the only one who has noticed this piece of trivia. ESPN.com’s power rankings for May 26th had this to say about the Tigers:
Power Rankings: Hold those Tigers ... at No. 2
What more does a team need to do? Yes, the Detroit Tigers have baseball's best record. Yes, they are hotter than "American Idol" Taylor Hicks. Yes, they've won 13 of their last 14. Yes, they own baseball's top pitching staff. Yes, yes and yes again.
But no, they are not the No. 1 team in this week's ESPN.com Power Rankings. Not yet. We're not trying to toss Simon Cowell's wet blanket on the Tigers' performance. We just need to see it to believe it, and the Tigers' time will come June 6 when they visit Chicago for a little AL Central showdown with the pole-sitting White Sox. Until then, they'll likely remain in the two-hole barring a major collapse for either team. Both teams just completed stellar weeks (5-1 for Chicago, 6-1 for Detroit).
I don't think it's really fair to wait until the June 6th showdown with the ChiSox. All that soft schedule stuff changes for the Tigers starting tonight. Tonight the Tigers start what my Tiger-fan buddies and I have been calling The Stretch. Over the next two and a half weeks the Tigers will exclusively play the best teams in the American League. It starts with a ten game home stand against the Indians (23-23), the Yankees (26-19), and the Red Sox (27-18). Then the Tigers hit the road for six games against the White Sox (31-15) and the Blue Jays (25-21). How the Tigers fair during this 16 game stretch might define them for the rest of the season. Will the nice, early season run come to an abrupt end as it did in 1993 with a ten game losing streak? Will the Tigers step up and claim a position among the elite in the American League? I’ll get back to you about it 16 games from now.
No comments:
Post a Comment