Detroit Tigers:

After being picked to win their division this year, the Detroit Tigers have gotten off to a surprisingly slow start. The Tigers currently have a 36-39 record, which puts them in third place in the Central Division and tenth in the American League overall. Slugger Marcus Thames leads the Tigers at the plate with a solid 12 home runs early this season, while Silver Slugger Award winning All-Star Miguel Cabrera follows with 10 home runs and a great 42 RBIs. Famed pitcher Kenny Rogers and youngster Justin Verlander carry this team. A rising star, Justin Verlander, is entering only his 3rd season in Major League Baseball, after winning the Rookie of the Year Award his first season and getting an All-Star selection in his second season, last year. The Detroit Tigers look to utilize this amazing line-up towards moving up in the Central division ranking towards another playoff run for the franchise possibly concluding with a World Series title. Ticket sales will be slow until this great team learns to work together towards a turnaround for this season towards their playoff run.

Saying the Detroit Tigers have been a disappointing team to watch is a gross understatement. They’ve failed to make it to the post-season since 1987, not had a winning season in a decade and have finished an average of 28 games out of first place in the same span. In the magical 1984 season the Tigers finished with a 104-58 record and a first place finish in the American League East. That season the unspeakable happened the Tigers not only made it to the playoff and the World Series but won it all by slapping the Padres 4-1. That team was lead by Tiger greats like Jack Morris, Willie Hernandez, Lance Parrish, Alan Trammel, and Lou Whitaker.

Last season they capped off this amazingly awful run with the second worst record in baseball history with a 43-119 record. Going into the last series of the season last year against the Minnesota Twins, the Tigers only needed to lose two of four to claim the record. They lost the first game and took the last three from the twins, including climbing out of a 8-0 hole to win the game 9-8. Despite all the losing the team showed some grit and some pride in themselves, which is something good to build on.

The Detroit Tigers in an un-Tiger like fashion went out and spent a good chunk of cash on the free agent market during the off-season. They dropped a whopping $18.7 to bring in free agents that will keep them from losing 119 games this year. Their biggest acquisitions were Cooperstown bound catcher Ivan “Pudge” Rodriguez, former all star second baseman Fernando Vina, and closer Ugueth Urbina. They also brought back manager Alan Trammel to right the wrongs from last year.

Last year’s Tigers batted a nauseating .240, but this year’s version is batting a much improved .277 half-way through May. The centerpiece of the Tiger batting order is its 3-4-5 hitters, where Rodriguez, left fielder Rondell White, and first baseman Carlos Pena look to drive in a lot of runs. Setting the table for them will be new Tigers center fielder Alex Sanchez and Vina. During the month of June Rodriguez batted a Playstation 2 like .500. It wasn’t for a day or a week, but for the entire month of June he batted .500 and raised his season batting average to a ridiculous .381. He became the first Tiger to ever hit .500 in a month and the first player since Todd Helton did it in May of 2000 while he was flirting with .400 on the season.

When you look up Mike Maroth in the baseball dictionary, you’ll find his picture next to the phrase “hard luck loser.” Maroth, who lost a record 21 games last year, allowed two runs or less in almost a third of his starts and still only had nine wins. The pitching staff was better than what their win-loss record shows. The addition of Ugueth Urbina should help stabilize the Tigers bullpen that didn’t have a veteran closer like Urbina last year.

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