The postseason success of the Detroit Tigers has driven members of the MSU community to watch the team as they prepare for the World Series.
The biggest surprise in baseball this year came out of downtown Detroit.
From late July to October, the Detroit Tigers caught the baseball world's attention with their underdog mentality and perseverance despite being the youngest team in Major League Baseball.
Just one month removed from having a 0.2% chance to make the playoffs according to FanGraphs, the team fans dubbed the “Gritty Tigs” defied the odds, managing to not just clinch a spot in October baseball but take the storybook run all the way to five games in the divisional series.
Detroit’s first postseason run in over a decade ended Saturday with a 7-3 loss on the road to Cleveland in a winner-takes-all dual, which doesn't take away from the managing excellence of A.J. Hinch and pitching masterclass from AL Cy Young favorite Tarik Skubal down the stretch.
The run was nothing short of remarkable for baseball fans with Detroit's unorthodox approach to pitching. The Tigers deployed just one true starter in Skubal, which Hinch called “pitching chaos."
The result? The youngest team in baseball swept Houston in the wild card round to prevent the Astros from reaching an eighth straight divisional series appearance.
Whether it was their pitching approach or simply their unexpected success, the Tigers were interesting fans all over.
“It has definitely piqued (fans') interests,” computer engineering senior Joe Funke said. “The Tigers just haven’t been doing great for quite a long time and this run kind of came out of nowhere.”
Prior to 2024, Detroit's last winning season came in 2016 with former Tiger stars Miguel Cabrera and Justin Verlander.
“I think the run has re-energized the city, given it something to root for,” civil engineering junior Billy Joe Crow said. “It's not everyday a historic run like this happens and for the city to experience it and support the team is great.”
As Crow said, the energy in Detroit is back. A lot of it can be credited to its sports teams.
“I think the run is a symbol for Detroit sports, letting everybody know we’re back,” Crow said. “We've been looked down upon for years as the Lions, Red Wings, Tigers and Pistons have been bad for the better part of this century. Now with the Lions being good, the Red Wings on the upturn and the Tigers on this run, it’s putting Detroit back on the map as a sports city.”
Earlier in the year, Detroit fans saw this “grit” emerge as the Lions reached the NFC Championship game after decades of disappointment and failure. The same underdog attitude fueled the Tigers and excited fans.
“The most exciting part of the Tigers' run to me was how they kept defying the odds. Every time they seemed to be out of it, they managed to come back,” Crow said. “They didn’t care that they’re not necessarily a 'big team' or that they’re overlooked.”
Although the run came to an end this weekend, the Tigers have a lot to hang their hats on. After all, a majority of the team experienced its first taste of playoff baseball.
There is still so much to look forward to with the Tigers, as a large majority of their young team just experienced their first taste of playoff competition.
“We have a lot of young players right now so it was kind of unexpected to see them do this,” Funke said. “I think people were excited to see it.”
Support student media! Please consider donating to The State News and help fund the future of journalism.
