Welcome to a special Detroit Tigers Spring Training edition of Five Things you need to know about Michigan where we pucker up for a platefull of Grapefruit League goodness!

Spring Training with the Detroit Tigers

Last year on Absolute Michigan we compiled what probably remains the definitive resource on the Detroit Tigers and spring training. It has loads of information about spring training tickets, Lakeland, Florida and Joker Marchant Stadium and also lists some of the bloggers who are covering the Boys in Blue, which brings us to...

Pepper

Lakeland Local (an honorarily arbitrary Michigan blog for Spring Training) opened Spring Training with a great roundup titled simply: Yes! Roar of the Tigers offered some love-ly lights and noted that although Pitchers and Catchers reported on Valentine's Day, Tom Gage of the Detroit News tried to RUIN IT ALL by writing that Brandon Inge may still be traded. Detroit Tigers Weblog covered Inge-gate as well and also Manager Jim Leyland's concern about the bullpen. Batting cleanup and already swinging for next year, Mack Avenue Tigers looked at a number of closer scenarios (Rodney, Zumaya, John Hiller) including the possibility of K-Rod (Francisco Rodriguez) sliding into the closer role in 2009. And also, as the setup man for the next bit, All-Star Tiger newcomers Dontrelle Willis and Miguel Cabrera, who says "I see next to my locker, I see [Gary] Sheffield, I see [Edgar] Renteria, Magglio [Ordonez]. I'm excited, you know? It's like a dream come true."

Cabrera by hueytaxi

Flickr's man on the scene in Lakeland is Roger DeWitt aka hueytaxi. His spring training tag has hundreds of photos that capture the Tiger ballplayers amidst the casual atmosphere of the grapefruit league: signing autographs, working out, superstitiously stepping over random bits of concrete, getting re-acquainted with baseballs, forgetting which sport they're playing or just flashing a big old "the weather's warm and I have the best lineup in baseball" smile. Roger is a regular contributor at Motownsports.com.

Best. Lineup. Ever.

If The Google is to be considered as the foremost authority on pretty much everything, then Tiger fans can take heart in the fact that 2 of the first 10 results - and the only two that mention a specific teams lineup - for the search of "best baseball lineup ever" are for the Tigers. Over at Spring Training '08 you can see how the Tigers stack up against the rest of Major League Baseball and see their projected 2008 starting lineup and position battles. You can follow along all season at Absolute Michigan keyword Tigers.

Fire up the YouTube...

The Detroit News has a team in Lakeland and they're sending back some quality reports on Spring Training that can be found on David Coates' channel on YouTube. Below is one featuring Miguel Cabrera ... play ball!