Talk of the Tigers

MY REFLECTIONS TODAY are about the Detroit Tigers. Their six-week rally at the end of the 2024 season, along with their appearance in the playoffs, finally caught my interest. I was particularly impressed by the fact that their entire payroll didn’t match what the Yankees were paying for their single superstar slugger. Baseball is, after all, a business.

I hadn’t watched a Tiger game in nearly twenty years. Their stellar performance continues here in the late Spring of 2025. They are the first team to win thirty games and are in first place in the American League. I even know a couple of the players' names, now that they have my attention.

There are 30 teams in Major League Baseball (MLB). These teams are divided into the National League and the American League, each with 15 teams. Each league is then further divided into divisions (East, Central, and West), with five teams in each division. Using this information will impress a crowd of coffee or beer drinkers if you have these tidbits at your disposal. 

In 1968 and 1984, I attended World Series games at Tiger Stadium thanks to my dad's friend, Ben Smith, who offered us four seats along the third base line. This experience for the Adams family turned into fortunate wins for the Tigers. Micky Lolich, one of our star pitchers in 1968, hit a home run in Game 2 and had the first of three wins against St. Louis. Then, in 1984, we attended the fifth game of the Series, where Kirk Gibson hit a towering home run off Goose Gossage, arguably the best reliever in the National League, putting the Tigers ahead 8-4 and sealing the championship in five games.

Such fond memories.

With my rekindled interest this year (yes, I admittedly am a fair-weather fan). I have my eyes on pitchers Mize and Skubal, and I love to watch the hitting of Greene, Carpenter, and Baez.

The Tigers are back; so am I.