Nobody thought it would happen.

The New York Yankees were the immovable object, the $200 million monster that was supposed to gobble up teams like the Detroit Tigers without even chewing.

The Tigers were the overachieving underdogs, the team still just three years removed from one of the worst records in baseball history.

And yet, there they were at Comerica Park on Saturday night — the Tigers dancing around the field spraying champagne like college kids, the Yankees staring out blankly from their dugout like they weren't invited to the party. Detroit's 8-3 win had just eliminated New York from the playoffs and pushed the Tigers one step closer to the World Series for the first time since 1987.

Three State News staff members were there to see it in person. Read their accounts below.

Proud Detroit playoff veteran

I've been to the Final Four, and I've been to the NBA Eastern Conference finals, but neither of these can hold a candle to what I experienced this weekend at Comerica Park for Games 3 and 4 of the American League Division Series.

On Saturday, I rolled into Comerica Park and waited as the Tigers had the chance to clinch their first playoff series since winning the 1984 World Series.

Many fans had radios to listen to the action at Michigan Stadium. But as Magglio Ordoñez cracked a monster home run to center field in the second inning, college allegiances dissolved and Spartans and Wolverines high-fived each other in joy. After a big fly by Craig Monroe, the end was near for New York.

And in one of the greatest and most emotional moments I have ever witnessed, a majority of the Tigers came out of the clubhouse with multiple bottles of champagne each and shared them with some of the 43,126 people in attendance, taking a victory lap around the field.

We finally did it.

Matt Bishop can be reached at bishop20@msu.edu.

A win I'll never forget

It was inevitable that many people would perceive the Detroit Tigers' celebration as melodramatic and unwarranted, but Saturday's 8-3 win over the New York Yankees was more than just your average playoff victory.

Even if it was just for 15 minutes, the win made some of the problems so many Detroiters face every day disappear. People honked their horns, waved their orange towels and cried in sheer excitement. It has been 22 years since Detroit experienced a scene like this.

You could feel the energy resonate throughout the entire ballpark. Older fans remembered being with their families during past Tigers victories and celebrated being able to experience such moments with a new generation. Flashes of former Tiger greats could be seen within more than 43,000 in attendance. It was a truly special night at Comerica Park — one I will never forget.

Alex Altman can be reached at altmanal@msu.edu.

A true father-son moment

When my dad called to tell me he had landed two tickets to Saturday's Detroit Tigers playoff game, it ranked as one of the biggest "I'm so proud to be your son right now" moments of my life — right up there with the time I was 8 and he stayed up all night trying to beat the last level of Bubble Bobble on Nintendo for me.

The two of us have been to something like 100 Tigers games together, but we both spent Saturday watching in awe like a couple of first-timers. As victory got closer and closer, we kept turning to each other in disbelief, saying things like, "The Tigers are about to win a playoff series," — perhaps to hear what it sounded like, perhaps just to reassure ourselves that they actually were.

When the score was final, we erupted in baseball euphoria. We cheered. We hugged. We looked up at the scoreboard, whose twinkling lights boasted a phrase we'd been waiting a long time to read: "Detroit Tigers — AL Division Series Champs."

Damn right they are. And we were there to see it.

Tom Keller can be reached at kellert1@msu.edu.