The Tigers had to make the clinch exciting.
No extra runs. Just one, as they beat the Minnesota Twins 1-0 in Minneapolis to clinch their third straight Central Division title.
Afterwards, multi-millionaires in goggles drenched one another with champagne, horsing around like kids in a squirt gun fight. Manager Jim Leyland choked up 13 seconds into an interview with Mario Impemba of Fox Sports Detroit, as seen in the video below.
Now, comes the real work, battling playoff teams who come to the plate with their A games. Will Miguel Cabrera be able to be Miguel Cabrera? Will Justin Verlander be the great pitcher he can be? How will Jhonny Peralta perform?
All good questions.
For their part, several players say the mission ahead is to win a World Series for owner Mike Ilitch, who turned 84 this summer and was unable -- perhaps for health reasons -- to be present for an annual team photo last week.
Terry Foster quotes two Tigers in his Detroit News column:
"We want to get a championship so badly for Mr. Ilitch. He has been so unbelievable and he has served this team so much.” -- Ramon Santiago
"One of his biggest dreams has been to have a World Series championship. . . . That is one of our goals, to win a World Championship and bring it back and present it to him.”
The Free Press notes that this is the Tigers' fourth postseason appearance since 2006 and the sixth division title in team history (1972, 1984, 1987, 2011, 2012, 2013).
Here are two impressive stats from Sports Xchange:
- It's Leyland's 700th win as Tigers' manager.
- Tigers' starting pitchers now have 1,397 strikeouts, tops in the majors.
