Detroit Tigers Trade Prince Fielder to the Texas Rangers for Ian Kinsler; What It All Means

By Charlie Portelli

Detroit Tigers General Manager Dave Dombrowski worked his magic yet again folks. He pulled off another blockbuster deal that will greatly benefit the Tigers in the long run. He traded 1st baseman Prince Fielder to the Texas Rangers in exhange for 2nd baseman Ian Kinsler. Few general managers in the game have displayed the creative abilities that Dombrowski has exhibited over the years with the Tigers. 

First things first. When the Tigers made the deal two years ago to sign Prince Fielder to a massive 9 year/ $214 million dollar deal, it was not Dombrowski's idea. It was more of a knee jerk reaction to fill a giant hole in the lineup after Victor Martinez' went down with a season ending knee injury. Mike Illitch had an impulsive idea to replace him with Prince. Illitch was like a 6 year old kid and Prince was like the shiny new toy. He wrote the check for Dombrowski, handed it to him and said "make it official". For Dombrowski, it would have been nearly impossible to say no to that. Lets be real here, Prince Fielder is one of the games greatest sluggers. Of course on the surface this seemed like a great idea. You are acquiring a perennial all-star that bashes 30 home runs and knocks in over 100 RBI, year in, year out. But in reality, the contract that was required to sign Fielder would eventually become an enormous burden in the latter half of the contract and would essentially paralyze the entire Tigers organization before long.

Money

Dombrowski turned this into a positive due to his wizardry business skills. He rented Prince Fielder for two years, and then shipped him and his huge contract off to Texas. In return the Tigers receive 2nd baseman Ian Kinsler, a very good baseball player. Prince Fielder was due $168 million dollars over the next 7 years of his remaining contract. Ian Kinsler is due $62 million over next 4 years. In order to complete the deal, Dombrowski agreed to send $30 million along with Fielder to Texas. All in all, the Tigers are saving themselves $76 million dollars. That is an absolute colossal amount of money. Make no mistake about it, that is what this deal is all about for the Tigers. Money. The Tigers saved a whole lot of it by escaping Fielders suffocating contract and bought themselves a boatload of payroll flexibility to spend however they see fit. Kinsler is a nice player, sure, (I will get to him shortly), but this trade was not about acquiring Ian Kinsler.

Cabrera and Scherzer; Protect and Lock Up your Assets

Second to the money aspect of this trade, it was more about the other pieces on this team than it was Kinsler. Miguel Cabrera is the best hitter in the game. He is a true talent and can carry any team on his back. When Fielder was traded to the Tigers, it was not an ideal fit on the defensive side of the ball because it would move Cabrera from first base, back to third base. With longevity and durability in mind, Cabrera absolutely has to go back to first base. He is your franchise player, your biggest asset, and he needs to be protected. Playing Cabrera at third base is like having a shitty car insurance policy on your Cadillac, playing him at first is like having full blown coverage. This was evidenced last year when Cabrera, for really the first time in his career, battled serious injuries. This was due to the wear and tear that naturally comes with the third base position. First base will be much easier on the body for Cabrera, and he will indeed be a greater defensive first baseman than Fielder.

Also, with the freed up money, the Tigers will be able to sign starting pitcher Max Scherzer to a long term (an expensive one at that) contract extension.

Starting pitching trumps all in baseball. If you can somehow acquire dominant starting pitching, you need to do everything in your power to hold onto it. If you have a strong starting staff, you give yourself a chance to win a World Series. The Tigers have the best starting pitching staff in the game and trading Scherzer would have been idiotic. Dombrowski should be commended for figuring a way financially to be able to keep his pitching staff in tact. He has his priorities in line.

Ian Kinsler and What He Brings to the Table

I do not want to shortchange Ian Kinsler. He is a really good baseball player. He is extremely scrappy and those kinds of players will always have a place in baseball. Every team needs them, in fact, you cannot have too many of them. (Just ask the World Series Champion Red Sox). He has mastered a lot of the little things that people do not necessarily notice on a stat sheet as well. Although he does not hit for a very high average (career .273 BA), he is an effective leadoff hitter. He walks a lot, finds his way onto base a lot, can steal a base, runs the bases well, and has some nice pop in the bat. He has the ability to hit home runs, as he has hit over 30 twice in his career, but those numbers were absolutely inflated from playing at his home ballpark in Texas. He will never get close to hitting 30 in Detroit, so you can forget about that right now, but he will hit some home runs for you. He is also a very streaky hitter. Over his first 8 seasons in the major leagues, his batting averages and home runs starting with his rookie year in 2006 and ending last year are as follows. (.286 and 14, .263 and 20, .319 and 18, .253 and 31, .286 and 9, .255 and 32, .256 and 19, and then last year .277 and 13.) As you can see, he is all over the place, he has been consistently productive, which is a huge pro, but inconsistent in the way he produces. Another concern with Kinsler is the fact that he frequently deals with injuries. With that said, when healthy, he will be a very solid hitter in this lineup.

On defense, he is also streaky. He is regarded as a plus defender, and one of the best in the game at his position. But he led the AL in errors at second base last year. He will make some spectacular plays, and then follow that up with a defensive blunder.

While his contract is not even close to being as ridiculous as Fielder's was, he is also probably overpaid. That is part of the reason this deal got done as well. He is also turning 32 years old in June, and that is typically when players begin their decline.

Prince Fielder, the Baseball Player

One thing that I cannot seem to grasp is why so many people are rejoicing in Detroit after hearing the news that Prince Fielder had been traded. If it was because we escaped his awful contract, then I understand. But it did not seem to be. Rather, I get the impression that it was because they did not like Prince as a baseball player, which is pretty ridiculous. While I was completely fed up with his playoff ineffectiveness and lack of clutch hitting last year, he provided adequate protection in the batting order for Miguel Cabrera. That is not debatable. Cabrera won two MVP's in the only two years that Fielder was hitting behind him. Fielder has annually delivered 30 home runs while driving in over 100. Those kind of hitters do not just grow on trees.

While I do not think that Fielder's massive playoff struggles were a huge factor in the trading of him, I do think it played a part. The Tigers are not satisfied winning division titles anymore, it is now about winning a World Series. Over the last two postseason runs for the Tigers, Fielder did not help in that regard, in fact, he hurt.

While I may sound a little critical of this deal, I am not. I am merely being realistic about it. I am actually very pleased with the deal.

Having said that, I am more excited to see what follows this deal than I am excited about trading Fielder for Kinsler.

Dombrowski was stuck with Fielder's contract on the books. With this deal he has earned himself some wiggle room. Hold on for the ensuing ride.

Detroit Tigers Get it Right; Hire Brad Ausmus as Next Manager

By Charlie Portelli


I am not going to beat around the bush with this one; I absolutely love the hire of Brad Ausmus to be the next Detroit Tigers manager. I believe Dave Dombrowski and the others involved in the hiring process nailed this one. Ausmus was the one guy that I had eyed from the very beginning of the managerial search. The idea of a young and hungry manager looking for his first shot to prove himself had me intrigued and excited. I was hoping that Dave Dombrowski would interview him. Ausmus eventually got that interview, (after a couple of other candidates interviewed) and he blew Dombrowski and others away, which did not surprise me in the slightest. The Tigers now have their manager in place, with a ready made winning team at his disposal. With that said, there seems to be a good deal of skepticism coming with the hire of Ausmus among fans. Let me ease your mind.

The main knock on Brad Ausmus as Tigers manager is obvious, he has never managed before. That is certainly a legitimate concern but at the same time it isn't the end all, be all either. Ausmus is respected by many ex-managers, players, and other peers in the game. Dave Dombrowksi consulted with many people, most notably two of the greatest managers in the history of baseball, Tony Larussa and Joe Torre.  Joe Torre, who managed Ausmus at the end of his career with the Dodgers, was one of the biggest advocates of Ausmus getting a shot at managing in the Major Leagues. 

"Every time Brads name came up, it was effusive with praise" said Dombrowski. 

 This is a guy that was simply looking for his first shot at a chance to manage an MLB baseball team and Tigers fans should consider themselves lucky that he is getting his first crack here in Detroit. 

Who is Brad Ausmus and Why Will He Be Successful in Detroit?

Ausmus spent a career in the Major Leagues that lasted 18 years as a catcher. Throughout his career as a catcher in baseball he was never considered a great player. He was traded from team to team. He started with the Padres, then the Tigers, Astros, Tigers again, Astros again, before finishing with the Dodgers. When his playing days finally ended (a mere 3 years ago) he had only a career .251 batting average. However, Ausmus excelled as an actual catcher because he simply had a mind for the game of baseball. He won 3 gold gloves in his career and pitchers loved to pitch to him. He called great games and made life easier for the pitchers. He also took a lot of pressure off of his managers when he was catching due to their trust in him managing the game on the field. When catchers are at their best, they are the manager on the field. It is the catcher that is the leader on a baseball diamond. This is what Ausmus did best. He played into his 40's despite never sporting a batting average over .275 in any one season. He was able to do this because he was an incredible asset to teams as a game manager, mature leader, and a great defender. 

The best managers are rarely former superstars in the league. They are mostly made up of players like Ausmus that have sustained careers based on their intelligence and intangible values that can oftentimes be overlooked by the average fan.

 Jim Leyland is a model example. He was a smart catcher but could not hit to save his life. He never made it out of the minor leagues because of his short comings as a hitter, but was able to become a manager in the major leagues where he was so successful it might lead him to the Hall of Fame.

 It also comes as no coincidence that Brad Ausmus getting hired as Tigers manager now makes it a whopping 9 major league managers who were former major league catchers. That makes up nearly a third of the teams in the league. Catchers make good managers. He joins the likes of Joe Girardi (Yankees), Mike Scoscia (Angels), Bruce Bochy (Giants), Bob Melvin (Athletics), Mike Matheny (Cardinals), Ned Yost (Royals), John Gibbons (Blue Jays), and Mike Redmond (Marlins). Reread that list. Those just so happen to be some of the best managers in the game today. Also not a coincidence. 

As I said, the fact that Ausmus has not actually managed before is a real concern, it would be silly to overlook that fact. But sometimes a young and fresh outlook can be refreshing to a ball club. I thought it would have been an epic mistake to stay in house by hiring an existing coach on the Tigers staff to replace Jim Leyland. The hitting coach, Lloyd McClendon interviewed for the position and others such as bench coach Gene Lamont and third base coach Tom Brookens were rumored to be interested as well. Many thought that this would be the way to go, given the Tigers success in recent years. Also, with so many established stars in the locker room who had grown comfortable with a certain culture, changing too much could destroy what the Tigers had worked so hard to build over the last decade. While the Tigers never won a World Series under Leyland, they sustained extreme success that most teams in the league strive for. 

An example in sports where this sort of "comfortable, maintain the same culture" approach was taken, look no further than down the road with the Detroit Red Wings. After the 2002 Stanley Cup winning season, Scotty Bowman retired as the head coach of the Red Wings. He left behind a franchise that had enjoyed multiple Stanley Cup Championships in recent years. With no need for a big culture change, an existing assistant coach on the Red Wings named Dave Lewis took over. Dave Lewis was successful in the regular season with a dominant roster but failed in the playoffs going 6-10 over two years before he was removed as head coach. The Dave Lewis experiment was disastrous in Detroit, just like a Lloyd McClendon, Gene Lamont, or Tom Brookens experiment would be. 

Another factor that supplements my confidence in Brad Ausmus as the next Tigers manager is the fact that he has already named Gene Lamont as his bench coach. Gene Lamont (also a former Major League catcher) was Jim Leyland's right hand man for essentially his entire career as a Major League manager. In the case you are unfamiliar with what a bench coach in baseball is, it is basically a second manager, he helps the manager manage the baseball game and serves as a second set of brains to the lead manager. Lamont obviously has great familiarity with the ball club, knows the in's and out's, and will enhance Ausmus' ability to successfully manage the Tigers. While Ausmus is capable, he will need Lamont's help, especially in year one of the process. 

I am willing to predict Brad Ausmus as the next great thing as a manager in the Major Leagues. It does not hurt that he is inserted into a great situation with the 2014 Detroit Tigers where he is set up to flourish. There will be tough times, happy times, and everything in between. 

The Tigers are built to contend for a championship once again next year, and Ausmus should only enhance their chances of winning it all. 

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Jim Leyland Retires As Tigers Manager; Now What?

By Charlie Portelli

Jim Leyland announced yesterday that he is retiring as Detroit Tigers manager after reaching the ALCS for the third straight year. Leyland stated this morning that he was "running low on fuel"  and decided it was time to end his eight year tenure with the Tigers. Whether you liked Jim Leyland as Tigers manager or not, he was very successful in Detroit despite falling short of the ultimate goal; winning a World Series Championship.

Jim Leyland was beloved by many in Detroit. He was also disliked by many and most others fell somewhere in between. But his success in Detroit should not be taken for granted nor should it be unappreciated. In fact, Leyland was one of the greatest managers the Detroit Tigers have ever had in their history rich franchise. To put his success into perspective, consider this. He managed the Tigers for 8 seasons, but before looking at his time as Tigers manager, lets reflect on the 8 seasons before Leyland arrived in Detroit. The winning percentage over those 8 years? A lowly 40%. The 8 years with Leyland as manager? A much more impressive 54%. Also, Leyland took over a dumpster fire of an organization. Just three years prior to taking over in Detroit, the Tigers had posted one of the absolute worst win/loss records in the history of baseball, winning just 43 ball games and losing a whopping 119 (the worst in Tigers history). Jim Leyland turned the ball club around overnight and led the Detroit Tigers to the World Series in his very first year as the manager in 2006. It was the first time the Tigers had even made the postseason in 19 long, dreadful years on the baseball diamond. Although Leyland never brought a World Series Championship to Detroit, it would be asinine to say he failed in Detroit. During his 8 year term as Tigers manager, the Tigers reached the ALCS or better 4 times. That is success. Most franchises long for that kind of run. To sum up Jim Leyland as a baseball manager, just talk to his players. His players loved him and Leyland loved his players. His players would run through a wall for him if he asked them to. Leyland is the epitome of a "players manager". Towards the end of his run in Detroit his true personality showed more. He wore his heart on his sleeve and showed a lot of raw emotion, in which the fans really responded to. Leyland will be missed in Detroit by players and fans alike for his humor, down to earth attitude, hard-nosed persona, but most of all, his part in bringing Detroit Tigers baseball back to relevance.

Moving On

With an end of era in Detroit, a new one is born. So here we sit with a dream roster consisting of two different MVP's still in their prime, multiple Cy Young candidates, and incredible talent filled in everywhere else on the field, with a large vacancy at the helm. Many are sad that Leyland would leave at a time like this, so close to completing our mission of winning a World Series for the first time since 1984. Others are worried how this team will respond to a new manager after playing for one who was universally loved in the clubhouse. But the fact of the matter is that Leyland left at an opportune time. He had his chances at a ring, but fell short. The foundation is set for a new manager to step in; whomever that may be. Sometimes, after a lengthy stay as manager for a team, players get a little too comfortable. The team has lacked a little bit of that healthy edge in the clubhouse, dugout, and on the field and that could all return with a new voice. When there is talent in place, it makes for a much easier transition. A current example of this is with Andy Reid. Andy Reid is a football coach, but the similarities of the situation are there nonetheless. Andy Reid had been very successful as a football coach for the Philadelphia Eagles for many years but after a long reign, his voice was not heard in the same way that it once was due to the players being too comfortable. The Eagles ran Andy Reid out of town despite his overall success there. Andy Reid was still a very capable coach, just not in Philly any longer. Reid was unemployed for all of five minutes. He promptly took over the Kansas City Chiefs as head coach following their season as the league's worst team. He now has them 7-0 and in first place. I don't blame Philly for firing Andy Reid, it was time to move on. Philly had grown tired of Reid, and the Chiefs were looking for a new voice. I am not saying that Detroit has grown tired of Leyland, because that's not it at all. What I am exemplifying here is that it was a good time for Leyland to walk away from the Tigers managerial position. He had grown older and tired and the Tigers need a change, a splash of water in the face if you will.

Leyland had a knack for managing young and unproven ball clubs and getting the very best out of them. Look no further than Leyland's very early success of leading the Tigers to an AL pennant in his very first year as their manager. The team was littered with young talent. With the state of the current, veteran laden Tigers team, Leyland had gotten the most out of them as he probably ever would have.  It takes some real guts and courage to be able to walk away from a team as talented and as built to win as this Tiger team, and I commend him for doing so.

Who is Next?

General Manager Dave Dombrowski has the difficult task of finding a replacement for this legendary manager. He has big shoes to fill but I think the key is to find an even keeled, younger type of manager. The last thing that you want is someone with too strong of a personality that might ruffle the feathers of this group. The team is full of experienced talent. They have all played under the brightest of lights and tasted the success. They were a mere 6 wins away from a World Series ring, so too much of a change could cause an epic collapse. 

Its very early in the process yet to properly consider names to replace Leyland. There are a few managers I know that I do not want. Among them are Don Mattingly, Manny Acta, Ozzie Guillen and to a lesser extent, Dusty Baker. I am certainly intrigued by the idea of Brad Ausmus. The main turnoff with Ausmus is the fact that he does not have any managerial experience, whether it be at the major or minor league level. An example of a manager currently in the league that took a high profile job without any managerial experience, look no further than Mike Matheny who is the manager for the St. Louis Cardinals and will be managing the Cardinals in the World Series starting tomorrow. He is also the youngest manager in the game at 43 years old. Other than having no managerial experience before taking the Cardinals job, Matheny and Ausmus share some similarities. Both are young. Ausmus is 44. Both were catchers, and catchers are very cerebral baseball players, they understand the game. Matheny was a catcher for the Cardinals, now manages them. Ausmus was a catcher for the Tigers in '96, '99, and '00. Matheny's experience in the game after his playing career was finished came with being a special assistant in the front office for the Cardinals for a couple years before being named their manager after Larussa retired. Ausmus is currently a special assistant with the San Diego Padres. Ausmus has interviewed for other managing vacancies and thinks he has what it takes to be a successful manager in the big leagues. 

He might just get his first crack with the Tigers next year. 

Prince Fielder Should Be Benched

By Charlie Portelli

The Detroit Tigers are in a desperate spot. They are down 3-2 in a best of 7 series with the Red Sox and have to travel to Boston to play in a do or die game 6; win or go home. The season is on the line and it is time for Jim Leyland and the Tigers to do absolutely everything they can do in order to win and that includes benching Prince Fielder.

Jim Leyland is a manager who tends to make decisions based on track records. For instance, if he has a proven major league hitter in his lineup that is struggling mightily at the plate over a long period of time, he will stick with that player based on his track record in the past. He is resilient enough to stay the course and withstand media and fans alike screaming and shouting both literally and figuratively for the benching of this said player. In my opinion, this is the proper way to manage and Leyland might just be the best in the game in that regard. However, this instance is different and it is time to make a change.

After Fielder went 1-4 with a weak groundball single through the box in game 5 in the ALCS he raised his postseason batting average to .211. Although that average is much lower than desired, the real problem lies elsewhere. Prince Fielder has just one extra base hit and zero RBI in the entire postseason. He has displayed no power, and no clutch hitting. He also has committed unforgivable miscues on defense as well. To put Prince's struggles into context, lets will compare his postseason production to the St. Louis Cardinal shortstop, Pete Kozma. Pete Kozma is the no. 8 hitter in the Cardinal lineup and has 9 RBI over the last two postseasons compared to Prince Fielder who has just 3 RBI in roughly the same amount of games. That is pathetic.

The major league baseball season is extremely long and players go through slumps of the worst kind throughout the dog days of summer. But unlike the regular season, the postseason is constructed into short series and in this best of 7 series it is time for Leyland to make an exception to his "stick with the track record" style of managing. The Tigers are one loss away from ending their season which was World Series or bust from the get go. There isn't time to play around anymore and the bottom line is Leyland has to field his very best lineup and Fielder is not one of the 9 best that they have right now.

The Tigers are lucky to have someone in Victor Martinez who is swinging one of the hottest bats of anyone in the entire postseason who could step into Fielders spot and produce. Jhonny Peralta would provide adequate protection behind Martinez. Also, by benching Fielder the Tigers would make improvements on defense. Victor Martinez could play first base which would open up the designated hitter spot for Peralta. This enables the Tigers to insert another left handed bat to play left field, either Andy Dirks or Don Kelly, who are both significant upgrades on defense over Peralta, who is a defensive liability.

There are two other options to consider. Moving Fielder down in the lineup in hopes that it sparks his bat like it did Austin Jacksons when he was moved from the leadoff spot to the 8th spot. Or, simply leaving Fielder as is. Jim Leyland is most likely going to stick with the track record of Prince Fielder and leave him as is and count on him to come out of it tonight and help the Tigers push this series to a decisive game 7 tomorrow. With that said, lets hope Prince spent the majority of his day off praying to the baseball gods to pull him out of this awful postseason slump.

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.