MLB News & Notes - Tigers' improbable run ended by battered Cardinals
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Baseball 2006: Tigers' improbable run ended by battered Cardinals
January 1, 2007
By Jim Keller
PA SportsTicker Baseball Editor
The 2006 baseball season can be summed up in one word: unpredictable.
How likely was it on Opening Day that the Detroit Tigers, who suffered an American League-record 119 losses in 2003 and won just 71 games a season ago, would make the playoffs, let alone win the AL pennant despite a seemingly irreversible late-season slide?
What was the likelihood that the St. Louis Cardinals would advance to the World Series after becoming the first team to reach the postseason after enduring three separate losing streaks of at least seven games, including one in the last week of the season?
"I think that's the nature of our (game), the structure of the game, that teams can get hot in the playoffs can win," Houston manager Phil Garner said. "Who would have seen that there are so many exciting things that are unusual things this year that were just totally unpredictable?"
The Tigers had not sniffed .500 since 1993 or been to the postseason since 1987. Their 24-game improvement was the biggest of any postseason club since the Atlanta Braves went from 65 wins in 1990 to 94 victories and an NL pennant the following season.
"I knew how good the division was and I saw what our numbers were against Cleveland and Minnesota and the White Sox (in 2005), and it wasn't very pretty," Tigers first-year manager Jim Leyland said. "So I was a little concerned about it. But I knew that we had some talent. Obviously, I thought we'd improve. I didn't think we'd go to the World Series."
Detroit got out of the gate quickly, going 76-36 and forging a 10-game division lead on August 7. However, by season's end, the Tigers had little bite left after losing 31 of their last 50 games - the first time a postseason team had lost at least 20 of its final 50 games.
Detroit surrendered the AL Central Division title to the Minnesota Twins on the final day of the season after the lowly Kansas City Royals completed a three-game sweep. Instead of a first-round home series with Oakland, the Tigers had to fly to New York to battle the playoff-tested Yankees, who were heavily favored in the series.
"If we're good enough, we're good enough and if we're not, we're not, but it won't be because we're in awe," Leyland said before the series started. "They are tremendous, maybe one of the best lineups in the history of baseball in recent years. We know that, but I think we have done a little something, too, and we have earned the right to be here and we're going to give it our best shot."
Led by Leyland, who later claimed AL Manager of the Year honors, Detroit sent New York home early, dominating three straight games after a Game One loss.
The Tigers swept the Athletics in four games to earn their first trip to the World Series since a 1984 triumph over the San Diego Padres. After being left for dead just two weeks earlier, they became the pretty girl everybody wanted to take to the dance and show off in front of the flawed Cardinals.
Marred by injuries and with a patchwork pitching staff, the Cardinals won a third straight NL Central crown despite blowing all but one-half game of a seven-game lead it had September 19, clinching the division title on the season's last day with just 83 wins, the 13th-best total in baseball.
"I think with the Cardinals, I think playing them like we did in our division, we all knew if they were healthy, they'd have a chance where they could win," Reds manager Jerry Narron said. "It seemed like they got everybody healthy when they needed to, and their bullpen did a great job in the postseason for them, too."
St. Louis went to San Diego and took care of the Padres in four games, then dispatched the heavily favored Mets by winning Game Seven in New York to advance to the World Series.
Only the 1973 Mets, with 82 wins, advanced to the Fall Classic with fewer victories |
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