The 2007 Major League Baseball regular season is winding down with the season officially wrapping up on Sunday for most teams. However, eight lucky teams get the chance for a post-season title. Unfortunately, the Detroit Tigers will not be one of those teams this year. After a magical 2006 season that saw the Tigers earning their first winning season in 12 years and getting to the World Series for the first time in 22 years, this season saw the team getting just short of a playoff berth. With less than a week left to the season, the Tigers were officially eliminated from playoff contention. Yes, even though it's pretty disappointing to see the team not make the playoffs after last year's amazing run, I am still pretty proud of their efforts and glad that they can at least compete to be in the playoffs. At least it isn't like the 12 seasons prior to 2006 when the Tigers were out of the playoff hunt at the All Star Break.
There were a few contributing factors as to why the Tigers fell short of being in the playoffs this year. A number of key players got injured during the course of the season, including members of the pitching staff. Kenny Rogers, who had a tremendous 2006 season and pitched incredibly in the playoffs, ended up missing four months at the beginning of the year due to a blood clot in his shoulder. He then missed most of August because of a sore shoulder. Joel Zumaya, the flame-throwing set-up guy who frequently hits 100 mph on the radar gun, missed three months because of an injury to his middle finger on his pitching hand that required surgery. Fernando Rodney, a similar hard-throwing pitcher that throws in the late innings also ended up on the disabled list for a short time. Gary Sheffield, a player for whom the Tigers were expecting to contribute largely for his hitting in the designated hitter role, also missed time because of shoulder problems. Although a team never likes to admit that injuries ended up playing a key role in why a team falters, I think it's safe to assume that the Tigers were affected by injuries this year.
The team also went through a terrible funk at the end of July and all of August that saw them lose the AL Central division lead and their title as best team in baseball (which they were for awhile prior to the All-Star game). The starting pitching wasn't as stellar and the hits weren't coming as easy. They were losing more than they were winning and coupled by the injury bug, it proved to be a losing stretch that they were never able to recover from. Yes, they did start turning things around in September, but it was already too late. Both the Yankees and Indians went on an incredible tear and it was just too difficult to compete with both of those teams. Now if the Tigers were in the National League, things might be different. But unfortunately, they are not. They have to deal with being in the more superior league in professional baseball.
But 2007 wasn't a major disappointment just because they didn't make the playoffs. Several important acheivements were reached (or are in the process of being reached). Magglio Ordonez is currently the batting average leader and has his sights on the American League batting title. With three games remaining, it's going to be extremely diffcult for Ichiro Suzuki, a Seattle Mariners player that is also competing for the batting title, to catch Magglio with just three games remaining. The last time I checked, Ichiro is .010 behind Magglio. And for those that don't follow baseball, it doesn't seem like that large of a gap. But this late in the season, it takes a lot to make up .010. So it is very likely that Magglio will be this year's American League batting champion. What an incredible feat for one of the Tigers most important free agent signings ever.
Pudge Rodriguez surpassed the record for the most games played as a catcher, solidifying his importance to this team and his spot in the Baseball Hall of Fame when he retires. Placido Polanco has an error-less streak of 170+ games (and still counting) at second base. He is also four hits short of reaching 200 hits in a season, which Magglio Ordonez has already reached. He is likely to reach 200 before all is said and done. Curtis Granderson, the Tigers centerfielder, is the sixth player in baseball history to have 20 homeruns, 20 triples, 20 doubles, and 20 stolen bases in one season. Todd Jones, the Tigers closing pitcher, recorded his 300 career save in a game against the Minnesota Twins earlier this month. And last but not least, probably the most important of all of these acheivements, the Tigers had 3,000,000+ fans attend games at Comerica Park (the Tigers home stadium) for the first time in franchise history. The franchise dates back to more than 100 years! This is even more impressive considering that Comerica Park is some 10,000 seats smaller than Tiger Stadium was, and the last attendance record dated back to 1984 when 2.7 million fans attended the home games. This goes to show you how excited and loyal the fans are for this Tigers team. They are as thrilled as ever to have a competing baseball team again, after a 12 year stretch of mediocrity.
Although I am disappointed not to be able to bring you post season blogs regarding Tigers playoff games this year, I am still proud of the Tigers for a wonderful 2007 season. This team looks to compete for the playoffs for many years to come and hopefully one of these seasons, they will bring home a championship. Although it did not happen this year, it certainly doesn't mean they had a dull year. It was anything but! Always and forever, go Tigers!
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