With only one week left, I’m making an effort to catch as much Tiger baseball as I can. Like every season since 1987, as the regular season finishes, so do the Tigers.

But as a fan, for the first time in a long time, I think the team is headed in the right direction. I feel a little duped, because we’ve been spoon fed the “rebuilding” spiel for so long because here the Tigers go out and spend some money, and improve by nearly 30 games.

But at least they’re moving in the right direction. And it showed at the box office. It looks like they’ll finish the season with just under 25,000 fans a game. That’s only 61% capacity, but it’s a far cry from the 17,000 they pulled in last year.

Also, the fact that players like Carlos Guillen and, through the All Star Break, Ivan Rodriguez were being mentioned as potential league MVPs shows the team has gained some respectability.

Finally, they did it all with the injuries. Rondell White, Fernando Vina, Ivan Rodriguez and now Carlos Guillen all were down. Vina’s was the most serious, and not all of them made appearances on the DL, but they all played dinged up. And the fact that they still should win 70 games despite those injuries shows the Tigers have at least a competitive team.

So despite the season ending, I’m happy.

Permalink | Posted in 2004 Tigers