Standing O!

The Detroit Tigers, in pre-season, were a hot ticket for not only a playoff selection but a possible contender for the World Series. With a fantastic start of 0-7 following their 5-nil defeat to the Red Sox, the Tigers were mathematically  eliminated from the playoffs. Let’s be honest, there has never been a team in MLB history to start 0-7 and make the playoffs and I’d put my left nut on the line and say they are officially done for. History simply doesn’t lie and I’ll stand by my statement. With their recent trades and signings this off-season, Detroit now has the Major Leagues’ 2nd highest payroll at around $138 million just ahead of the Mets and far behind the Yankees, at $209 million.

Although Curtis Granderson suffered a timely injury they did bring in the same level of production with Miguel Cabrera. We are still talking about the same Tigers team that finished 3rd in the Major Leagues in runs scored with 5.5 runs/game, and yet this season has started off in DEAD LAST averaging 2.1 runs/game. When Curtis does return, with it being a hand injury, he won’t be 100% until he mentally puts the injury behind them. Once that happens Detroit can finally get back on track but by then the Central Division will be out of reach and we know the Wildcard will come out of the east between New York or Boston; chance of playoffs…IT’S A WRAP!

Speaking of Boston, Bill Buckner received a standing ‘O’ from the Red Sox faithful at Fenway. It is officially about time Red Sox Nation pulled the monkey, and the blame, off of Buckner. It is simply childish to blame one single player for a team’s loss in a series long event. Don’t forget it wasn’t even Game 7 so they still had an opportunity to finish off the Mets one game later and failed AS A TEAM. When my Cleveland Indians lost two World Series’ in the 90’s, I as a fan never blamed ONE player for our loss. Omar Vizquel pointed the finger at Jose Mesa for blowing the save against the Marlins. However, no closer is 100% in the history of save opportunities, and it simply was nothing more than bad timing.  So I’m happy to see that after winning two World Series the Red Sox fans finally grew up and came to a realization that there was no such thing as a curse or that Bill Buckner is a (fill in the blank).