DETROIT — They waited a decade for this. The people of Detroit suffered through the plunge of a powerhouse, the trade of Justin Verlander, the darkness of a failed rebuild and the long, slow ending to Miguel Cabrera’s storied career.
There have been three U.S. presidents, three different Tigers managers, three top executives and 848 regular-season losses since Comerica Park last hosted a playoff game. Wednesday in Detroit, 10 years of pent-up frustration, so many summers of righteous anger, bland indifference or downright depression finally evaporated into the October air.
Before the Tigers beat the Cleveland Guardians 3-0 in Game 3 of the best-of-five American League Division Series, the video board at Comerica Park played a rousing intro narrated by first-year broadcaster Jason Benetti, who was perhaps the biggest offseason coup for a team still anonymous outside all but the deepest baseball circles. The video recalled the hits of Tigers history: Al Kaline in ’68, Kirk Gibson in ’84, Magglio Ordoñez in ’06. Hall of Fame shortstop Alan Trammell threw out the first pitch. A young boy held a sign by the Tigers dugout that read: My First Tigers Playoff Game.
The same was the case for every player on this Tigers roster. Wednesday morning, third-year outfielder Riley Greene woke up feeling the natural jolt that comes with playoff baseball. He drove from his suburban apartment to downtown Detroit, though it took longer than usual.
“I hit a lot of traffic, which is kind of weird,” Greene said. “But I was like, ‘Oh, playoff game in Detroit, first time in 10 years?’ I figured that was part of it.”
A city that seemingly turned its attention across the street to Ford Field in August has been reeled back in, captivated by a team filled with a couple of stars, a few uncelebrated waiver claims, several late-round draft picks and a proven manager who came to town four seasons ago with a blemished reputation. Utility man Matt Vierling is the only player on the active roster to ever taste the postseason before, back when he was a rookie with the 2022 Philadelphia Phillies, a team that broke an 11-year playoff drought and staged a run to the World Series.
“I feel like it’s similar just because we hadn’t been there in a while,” Vierling said. “It felt the same with the crowd, super excited. You could tell they were starving for a game like this. To be able to bring a game home to these fans and win it was awesome.”
More than 44,000 packed into Comerica Park for the first Tigers playoff game in a decade. (Mandi Wright / USA Today Network via Imagn Images)
The sellout crowd of 44,885 was announced as the largest in Comerica Park’s postseason history. Wednesday morning, a construction sign on the iconic Woodward Avenue flashed the Bless You, Boys tagline of the 1984 Tigers, the last Detroit team to win a World Series title. Forty years have passed since that championship, 12 since the Tigers last played in the World Series, eight since the club even fielded a winning team.
For so many years, people have whispered in the shadows: Just wait until the Tigers start winning. This is close to what it’s supposed to look like. Orange towels waving in the stands. The team’s new rallying cry — Don’t Let the Tigers Get Hot — hanging on a banner over the Detroit Athletic Club railing. T-shirts featuring A.J. Hinch’s “pitching chaos” moniker dangled on hangers in a shoulder-to-shoulder team store. As the game went on, Detroit defiance was on full display when the board showed The Athletic’s social media post that ranked Comerica eighth out of eight in playoff atmospheres.
“Electric,” first baseman Spencer Torkelson said of the atmosphere postgame. “You knew it was coming. You knew that they were going to show up and be loud, and they didn’t disappoint.”
For all the talk about noise, the crowd spent much of the game locked in a more suppressed, knotted tension. Fans deprived of this type of baseball for too long clung to their seats and their beers as Keider Montero slashed through the first inning in six pitches, as Beau Brieske dispatched José Ramírez and stranded two runners in the fifth. The building grew more lively as victory inched closer. There was another ringing rendition of “Don’t Stop Believin’” in the eighth and the pulsating whoops of “Seven Nation Army” in the ninth.
“Especially toward the end of the game, everybody is on their feet, almost, for the eighth and ninth inning,” Vierling said.
Fans created an electric atmosphere in downtown Detroit. (Junfu Han / USA Today Network via Imagn Images)
The game itself had its moments. The Tigers won in this team’s trademark style. Pitcher after pitcher emerged from the bullpen, hurled strikes and generated weak contact. There was ample managerial chess — Cleveland’s Stephen Vogt turned to a pinch hitter in the second inning — and a few timely hits.
A first-inning RBI single from Greene invigorated the crowd early. The Tigers scored again when Vierling, the fundamental force, hit a sacrifice fly to score cult-hero catcher Jake Rogers. By the seventh, when the Guardians had two runners on and the heart of their order up with two outs, a 102 mph liner from David Fry smashed right into Vierling’s glove. The screws loosened and the whole building exhaled.
“As a kid, you’re always imagining situations like this,” left-handed pitcher Brant Hurter said. “It’s usually the World Series. We’re trying to get there, but it’s always the big situation and you’re always imagining yourself being there. If you’re not, then you’re probably not playing baseball for the right reasons.”
By the ninth, Tyler Holton blazed a 94 mph fastball past Austin Hedges to seal the Tigers’ 2-1 series advantage. The crowd stood as players filed off the field. Stadium speakers blared hip-hop from Gmac Cash and Motown from Sammy Davis Jr. As fans left the park, street performers banged on drums and buzzed on trumpets. Thursday night, the Tigers play at Comerica Park again. They could earn their first trip to the ALCS since 2013. That was Jim Leyland’s final year as manager. That was before the teardown and the rebuild, before three-batter minimums and the pitch clock. For a franchise that joined the American League as a charter member in 1901, links to the past are always palpable.
Perhaps this is a new generation of Tigers fans getting baptized in the thrill of October baseball.
“We have 40-plus thousand fans that are screaming their heads off for us to do something positive, and it’s October,” Hinch said. “Can you get any better than that?”
(Top photo of Will Vest: Duane Burleson / Getty Images)
