Detroit Tigers vs. Boston Red Sox: “Teams of Destiny”

By Charlie Portelli

Major League Baseball got the American League Championship matchup they had hoped for with two storied franchises with plenty of star power facing off between the Detroit Tigers and the Boston Red Sox beginning Saturday night at historical Fenway Park. This series has the makeup of a true battle between two very talented teams and has a chance to be one for the ages. Both fan bases are sure that their team is a winner. You are always hearing fans and people in the media alike say, “This is a team of destiny!” And while I have certainly been guilty of this myself, let’s just throw that shit out the window here because you could argue that both of these teams are “teams of destiny”.

 First we have the Red Sox. The Red Sox are coming off of a year in which they made a drastic move in ousting their long time manager, Terry Francona after he and the Red Sox lost 18 of their last 24 games which culminated in them losing their playoff spot on the last day of the regular season. Although the move to replace Francona seemed obvious after the epic collapse, it was not popular among many Bostonians as you can imagine because after all, Francona is the manager who can be credited with ending the Red Sox dreadful 86 year World Series title drought after winning the championship in 2004. He went on to follow that up with another World Series title in ‘07. To say the least, Francona was beloved in Boston by many. General Manager Ben Cherington chose to replace Francona with an opposite personality, Bobby Valentine. Valentine, who had to fill those big shoes, took over a very talented team with high expectations and to be quite frank, he could not have done a worse job. Valentine was disastrous in Boston and was an awful fit from the word go. He was fired after just one year on the job while finishing in last place in their division and the Red Sox were back to square one looking for a new manager. Meanwhile, impatient fans in Boston who had recently become accustomed to winning grew restless. The GM Ben Cherington was given the task of finding another new manager to properly fit with the strong personalities in team leaders Dustin Pedroia and David Ortiz and he found a perfect match in John Farrell who just so happened to be a former pitching coach with the Red Sox under Terry Francona from 2007-2010. Cherington also did a masterful job of adding blue-collar, grinding type of players that fit Boston’s persona to compliment his already talented team. He added 1B/C/DH Mike Napoli, OF Shane Victorino, OF Johnny Gomes, backup Catcher David Ross, and SS Stephen Drew among others to the roster. The Red Sox came together and performed at a high level all year long and claimed the American League’s best record when the regular season concluded. Not only did the Red Sox team get it done on the field, they meshed better than anyone could have predicted off of the field. Their current trademark that was born midseason is to grow facial hair; big, bristly, bushy facial hair at that.

All the adversity that the Red Sox went through as a team over the last couple of years has helped lead them right to where they are now; the ALCS and on the brink of returning to the World Series.

Next, we have the Tigers. While the Tigers also have the feeling of “a team of destiny”, it is for the opposite reasons. The Tigers have experienced recent success. They have won three consecutive division titles and reached the ALCS in 2011.They followed that up with a World Series berth last year where they were eventually swept by the San Fransisco Giants. The Tigers had to watch the Giants celebrate a World Series championship on their own field. Tigers General Manager Dave Dombrowksi went on to add a savvy veteran, OF Torii Hunter in the offseason and also welcomed back DH Victor Martinez after he missed the entire 2012 season with a knee injury. Both Hunter and Martinez have had successful careers in the major leagues but Hunter being 38 years old and Martinez 34, time is running out for these players who are both seeking that final piece to complete their career; a World Series ring. Jim Leyland took over as Tigers manager in the 2005 season when the Tigers were absolutely abysmal and had been for years. It took him just one year before he led the Tigers to the AL Pennant and a World Series berth in ’06 where they ultimately fell short after losing to the Cardinals in 5 games. Jim Leyland is 68 years old and the time is running out on his managerial career and to complete his tenure in Detroit properly he is also missing one thing; a World Series ring. In sports it takes a while to build a championship contender and as we all know there is oftentimes only a small window of opportunity for a team to accomplish that championship and that window does not stay open forever. The Tigers have what looks to be a perfect balance of experience and youth on their team, not to mention some superstars in the prime of their career with Miguel Cabrera 30 years old, Justin Verlander 30, Max Scherzer 29, and Prince Fielder 29. Detroit Tigers fans are thirsty for a World Series championship having not seen one since 1984.

The time is now for the Detroit Tigers as they appear in the ALCS for the third consecutive year. The Tigers have been on the brink of winning it all in recent years but they believe this is the year that they finally bring that championship home to the fans of Detroit.

I will take the “team of destiny”, the Detroit Tigers in 6 games.