Onward!

The Tigers survived the Oakland Athletics again this year.  For the second straight year, the Tigers and A's met in the first round of the playoffs and the series went a full five games.  The A's are a solid team top to bottom and anyone in the lineup can hurt the opposing team.  They've scared me both years despite the Tigers being favorites in the series because they play sound baseball.  Kind of like the Twins of the early to mid 2000s before they settled back down to the bottom of the Central.

 After this hard fought series, they have to turn around and face the best team in the American League, the Boston Red Sox.  The Sox were the darlings of MLB once they broke their curse close to a decade ago.  Then they won it again a few years later and everyone thought that it was nice.  Then they became entitled.  Then they became a team and a fan base full of douchebags.  Now I know I'm not the only one that feels this way about the Sox so I don't feel bad about saying it.  Sadly, I feel that if the Tigers win a few World Series titles, the team and fan base may go down that same road.  IF that happens, and I come across a Tigers fan that has that sense of entitlement about going to the post season and to the World Series, all I want to do is scream '2003!' and walk away.  Remember your roots and be humble people.  Even now.

This upcoming series, the Tigers offense cannot disappear like they did in the Oakland series.  I know the past two games have been great and I hope that they have sparked the batters out of their slump.  The pitching kept the A's from sweeping the Tigers so I don't worry about them (and watch, they'll collapse) while the offense struggled through the first three games, let's not kid ourselves.  They cannot (CANNOT!) struggle against the Sox pitching because it will not be pretty.  The Sox are a far better team than the A's.  I am even more nervous about this series than the last one. 

My heart says the Tigers in six.  My brain says something else, but I don't always listen to my brain.  That's how smart I am. 

Go get 'em Tigers!