It was a funeral at Comerica Park. All that’s left was the burial. A team that spent a good part of the season atop the American League was about to complete its collapse with a lifeless effort in front of a sold-out crowd at Comerica Park. They were about to be six feet under.
Then a new team emerged from the coffin.
Time will tell if this was just a desperation rally to save the season, or if Detroit finally woke up from a months-long slumber when it mattered most. Either way, it was fun, which this team hasn’t had in a while.
It’s impossible to adequately explain just how bad the vibes were at Comerica Park those first 4 1/2 innings. It was the coronation of a collapse. Everything we had seen from this ball club that we had come to loathe over the last several months was on full display. I wish I could come on here and give you a more proper analysis, but it’s very simple; a team that wasn’t hitting finally started hitting. And this wasn’t weakly hit singles or a run here or there. It became infectious. Every guy in the lineup was seeing the ball well. It was doubles. It was home runs. We haven’t seen energy from this team in a long time, sans that 7th inning rally in Cleveland a week ago.
Maybe this is just who this team is; perhaps this is the group that will drive you nuts, and then at the zero hour, pull a rabbit out of their hat to keep you invested. I know one thing: they are tough enough to fight until tomorrow, which they’ve continued to do. Perhaps the 2025 Detroit Tigers are the team that does just enough. They were just good enough to make the playoffs. They did just enough to be Cleveland, and now they’re one game away from doing just enough to punch the ticket to the ALCS for the first time since 2013.
It’s not going to get any easier. That will be a hostile environment in Seattle, and Tarik Skubal will be facing a lineup that is 3-0 against the Tigers in games he has started this season. How this team performs on Friday will determine how we define this season on a success and/or failure basis. A win is a success, a loss is a disappointment, especially considering where they were in the early part of the campaign. At the very least, this organization saved itself from a long offseason with their rally today. Many question marks about the leadership on this team would have arisen had this team folded the way it seemed they would throughout a heavy majority of this game. Perhaps it had to end like this. For the second year in a row, Detroit will go on the road with Tarik Skubal on the mound and an opportunity to win game five of the ALDS. It was never going to be easy.