We'll update this page with cool features we find about the Detroit Tigers post-season and their quest for the World Series crown! Add your comments and links below!

Game 4 - Can we all agree that Nelson Cruz should not be pitched to?

It's one of the best games I've ever been involved in. Great plays by both teams. Just didn't come out the right way.
~ Detroit Tiger manager Jim Leyland

While we agree with Leyland that last night's game was one of the most exciting playoff games in recent memory, the 7-3 loss to the Rangers on Nelson Cruz's second 11th inning walkoff HR was heartbreaking and places the Tigers in a do or die situation.

With closer Jose Valverde and setup man Joaquin Benoit ruled out for tonight, it all rides on Justin Verlander's shoulders this afternoon. While the position is pretty bleak, you can certainly say that there's nobody else who should be in this position. Play ball!

Game 3 - Tigers Win 5-2!

"The only way I don't play tomorrow is if I wake up and I'm dead."
~ Victor Martinez (more on V-Mart)

Following losses in Game 1 & 2 in Texas, many were already writing an obituary for the battered Tigers. After a convincing 5-2 win last night at Comerica, "bruised but not beaten" is the verdict. Following a Victor Martinez solo shot in the 4th to even the score, the Tiger bats woke up and delivered 11 hits including three homers in support of a stellar 7 1/3 inning outing by Doug Fister. Of course there's no way we won't give you the link to this gem - Detroit legend Aretha Franklin singing the National Anthem.

Game 4 starts today at 4:19 PM, and we're declaring today & tomorrow Michigan Leave Your Workplace Early Day!

Games 1 & 2 of the ALCS Tigers vs Rangers

We had a long weekend of baseball in the series, and here's not much you can say about the 2 losses other than "At least it's a 7 game series." Game 1 was a 3-2 loss, but the real loss was rightfielder Magglio Ordonez who was lost for the rest of the season to a broken ankle. Once again a Justin Verlander outing was spoiled by rain, and the Tiger ace summed it up by saying "Quite frustrating. I really felt as a team, we were starting to get into a rhythm there. We were starting to swing the bats better, and it just killed the momentum."

Tonight's game was a hard-fought post-season classic that ran 11 innings with a great performance from Max Scherzer and Jose Valverde pitching out of a 9th inning jam. The Ranger bats proved too much for Ryan Perry who surrendered 3 singles in the 11th before Nelson Cruz hit the first official walk-off grand slam in post season history to give the Rangers a 7-3 victory in Game 2.

The series comes to Detroit for 3 games starting Tuesday night as Doug Fister takes the hill at 8:05 on FOX.

Game 5 - Tigers win the series 3-2!

Last night the Detroit Tigers went into Yankee Stadium and came out with a 3-2 victory.

Game 4 - Yankees win 10-1

There's not much you can say about last night's 10-1 drubbing at the hands of the Bronx Bombers. (except of course "Don't be sad Rick Porcello").

ESPN New York has video and this to say about the man who saved the Yankees season for at least one game:

As a ballplayer acquired in mid-career, Curtis Granderson was not favored to enhance the mythology of New York Yankees center fielders. Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle, Bernie Williams -- they were lifers, men who spent every big league day under the world's most recognizable cap.

...The Yankees dealt (Austin) Jackson after their 2009 championship season because they didn't think his future would match Granderson's present. And so it was fitting in Game 4 of the division series, on a night Jackson would fail to run down the winning two-run blast from Derek Jeter, that Granderson made two catches honoring the tradition of the Yanks' most celebrated position.

Two catches definitely saving four runs, and probably saving five, in a 10-1 thrashing of the Tigers that made a most improbable winner out of A.J. Burnett and pulled the Yankees from the brink of a devastating end.

"He saved the season," Alex Rodriguez said of Granderson. "Not once, but twice."

Tiger Skipper Jim Leyland agreed that the catch was a huge out in his postgame conference. It comes down to 8 PM on Thursday night in Yankee Stadium when Doug Fister will take the mound vs Ivan Nova who shut them down in Game 1. In the Game 5 preview at tigers.com, the observe that the Yanks haven't won a decisive Game 7 or Game 5 since Aaron Boone connected off Tim Wakefield in Game 7 of the 2003 AL Championship Series. Here's hoping that streak can continue!

Game 3 - Tigers WIN 5-4!!

Ladies and gentlemen, your conductor on the Tiger Rollercoaster is Justin Verlander, who threw 120 pitches, including five straight triple-digit fastballs to A-Rod in the EIGHT INNING.

The recap on the Tigers website notes that his 11 strikeouts were the most by a Tigers pitcher in the postseason since Joe Coleman in the 1972 ALCS. His 15 pitches at 100 mph or better is believed to be a career high. Here's video highlights from last night that include some of that heat, and also some photos from Game 3. Let's not forget Leyland's decision to start Ramon Santiago and Delmon Young's continuing offensive heroics.

Roar of the Tigers has a great post (with her awesome cartoons) on the first three games of the series, what it's been like watching them. Starring (of course) Max Sherzer as (I think) Godzilla, it's a must-read!

Tonight Rick Porcello gets his first postseason start. In other news, the Tigers have ALCS tickets on sale now!

Game 3 Preview

Tonight it's a do-over of Game 1's Battle of the Aces as Justin Verlander starts opposite C.C. Sabathia tonight at 8:30 at Comerica Park. Click that image to the right for a preview video from MLB TV. Kurt over at Bless You Boys wonders how this statement from Papa Grande makes you feel...

"It's over already, (Justin) Verlander has it tomorrow. The next day we have the celebration in Detroit. They have a good team, but I think that's it for them."

--Tigers closer Jose Valverde after the game.

Game 2 - Tigers win 5-3

The Tigers took control of the series last night on the strength of a strong outing by pitcher Max Scherzer, holding off a 9th inning Yankee rally and hanging on for a 5-3 victory to even the series at 1-1.

It was a power-pitching form the Tigers saw in Scherzer when they acquired him from Arizona in the trade that sent Curtis Granderson to New York. With a fastball that topped out at 98, five miles above his regular-season average, his changeup became a dangerous swing-and-miss pitch.

"He was really good, the best I've ever seen him," Teixeira said. "Great fastball, his changeup was really, really good, and the numbers don't lie. He just dominated us."

Also check out this cool article on the Tigers' use of social media.

Game 1 - Tigers lose 9-3

Not much to say about this one. As the Detroit Tigers recap relates what Doug Fister was thinking:

It was almost surreal in the Stadium as the game resumed in the bottom of the second inning on Saturday night with the same lineups for both clubs -- sans the starting pitchers -- and the score tied at 1. In the press box, Fister was announced as the replacement for Verlander. But Fister said it wasn't so surreal for him on the field.

"For me, that was a scheduled 8:37 start, and it wasn't anything different," he said afterward. "It's tied 1-1. It's basically a 0-0 ballgame in my head, just as always. I go up there facing the Yankee lineup, and it's no different for me if it's bottom of the first, top of the first. It's all the same."

Doug Fister by Keith Allison

Game .1667

The playoff opener between the Detroit Tigers and New York Yankees was suspended because of rain in the second inning Friday night, wiping out both No. 1 starters for a few days. The game will resume tonight at 8:37 PM with the score tied at 1, but neither Verlander nor Sabathia will be back on the mound until they get some rest.

"I do feel bad for the national audience," Tigers manager Jim Leyland said. "Certainly, it was really a marquee matchup. That's a little sad, but that's just the way it is." started for Detroit against in a highly anticipated matchup between two of baseball's best pitchers. The teams played for 30 minutes before the game was halted.

According to a rule adopted by Major League Baseball after rain and snow wreaked havoc with the 2008 World Series, the game is not postponed. So it will pick up Saturday night at the point of suspension - weather permitting - with the Yankees coming to bat in the bottom of the second inning.

Doug Fister now gets the start The forecast calls for rain through late Saturday night, so who knows if they will get it in!

Cabrera 1 by RichardDemingPhotography

Post-season Preview

Detroit Tiger slugger Miguel Cabrera captured the American League batting title with a .344 batting average. After batting .390 in August, Cabrera went .429 (39-for-91) from Sept. 1 onward, racking up 12 doubles, six home runs and 21 RBIs. He had just six hitless games from Aug. 1 on and carries a nine-game hitting streak into the playoffs. The Detroit Sports Site notes that the last Tiger to win the AL batting title was Magglio Ordonez who hit .367 in 2007, and that Cabrera joins Alex Rodriguez and Albert Pujols as just the third active player to win a batting title, HR title and RBI title in his career.

Cabrera wasn't the only person to close the season in style. Justin Verlander captured the "Triple Crown," leading the AL in  Wins (24), Strikeouts (250) and ERA (2.40). Jayson Stark of ESPN took a look at AL MVP candidates and thinks that the winner will be none other than the Tigers' just-about-unbeatable ace, explaining:

If the essential question is, "Which player has done more to change the face of his team's championship season than this man has?" the answer, for me, is: Nobody. Yeah, it may be true that if the Tigers didn't have him, they'd have some other ace. But as their GM, Dave Dombrowski, said, "I've had other aces. But they never had the year Justin Verlander has had."

Verlander certainly rolls into the post-season as one of the most dominant pitchers of recent years. Andrew Kulha of the Bleacher Report notes, however, that Verlander is not the only arm capable of mowing the Yankees down:

Since being traded to Detroit from Seattle, Doug Fister posted an 8-1 record with an incredible 1.79 ERA. Those two are arguably the best one-two pitching combo in baseball, and followed by either Max Scherzer or Rick Porcello, they create one of the best pitching rotations in baseball.

He feels that the Yankees won't know what hit them, and he's definitely right on Doug Fister who torched the competition in September, going 5-0 with a ridiculous .54 ERA for September and was named AL Pitcher of the Month. Mitch Albom and just about everybody else at the Freep expect the Tigers to surprise the Yankees.Before you cry "Homer" be sure to have a look at the picks of ESPN writers who are split nearly down the middle.

The Tigers are red hot, roaring into the post season having won 30 of their last 39, and they face the New York Yankees in the first round of the playoffs. The opener is TONIGHT at 8:37 PM in Yankee Stadium. MLB.com columnist Marty Noble thinks the opening duel between Verlander and Yankee ace C.C. Sabathia has the makings of a classic, and the article includes great video interviews with Verlander and Sabathia. He notes as others that both teams bring an incredible amount of hitting & pitching firepower to the game. Alex Remington at Yahoo Sports has 10 very interesting numbers for the Tigers/Yankees series including a surprising "0" - the number of times a Tiger pitcher started this year on short rest. That plus an average age of 31 for Yankee pitchers means that the Bengals are bringing the fresher arms to the battle!

All post-season you should definitely tune into to some of our favorite Detroit Tiger bloggers:

• Roar of the Tigers where Samara throws down some of the most hilarious comics and posts you've ever seen, backed by a big league knowledge of baseball. Today she's celebrating the wonders of autumn from Cabrera's batting title and the simple fact that the Tigers are wicked awesome!
• Mike at the The Daily Fungo has a roundup of everyone's predictions (with special guest) and you can also follow him on Twitter.
• Over at Bless You Boys, Kurt eyes the Yankees three-man playoff rotation of Sabathia, Ivan Noma and Freddie Garcia with no small measure of trepidation. There's also a post asking for favorite Tiger playoff memories that you'll want to check out.
• The Detroit Tiger Weblog is gearing up for the post season where they will feature (just as the regular season) posts on every game.

Much (much) more Detroit Tiger news, history and links at absolutemichigan.com/Tigers and Detroit Tigers on Michigan in Pictures! We'll take you out with this hilarious video from Fox Sports Detroit of the Tigers Division-clinching celebration a couple of weeks ago. Share your links, comments and such below and Go Tigers!

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