October Baseball starts TODAY for the Detroit Tigers

October Baseball by Allison Farrand / Detroit Tigers

For most of the season the Detroit Tigers were one of the best teams in baseball and racking up wins at an incredible rate. The Freep shares that all that changed:

The 6-seed Tigers (87-75) squandered what was a 15½-game lead over the 3-seed Guardians (88-74) in the division on July 8, and 9½ games on Sept. 10. Cleveland went 5-1 against Detroit in the final two weeks (and 8-5 overall this season) to take homefield in the wild-card series and give the Tigers a label no team ever wants: biggest division meltdown in MLB history.

Today, the slate is clean & the Tigers travel to Cleveland to meet the Guardians at 1:08pm in Game 1 of an American League wild-card series. Play(off) Ball!!

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Detroit’s Hottest Day was also its 233rd birthday!

Trolly to the Tigers, Detroit 1934

Trolly to Navin Field, Detroit 1934 by Corktown Historical Society

Yesterday Model D editor Aaron Foley took a fascinating look at July 24, 1934 which remains the hottest day in the Detroit’s recorded history when the temperature struck 104.6°F at 4:10 PM on Detroit’s 233rd anniversary:

That brutal day came during a nationwide heat wave that swept from the West Coast through the Great Plains and into the Midwest, ultimately settling over the Motor City. More than 700 people died across the country due to the heat. Detroit’s death toll was lower than most. An eight-month old baby named Rosie May died of heat exhaustion and two men drowned swimming while trying to cool down. But low death toll or not, the city felt the heat.

And 105°F isn’t just “hot.” It’s desperate. On Van Dyke, on the city’s east side, a lumber yard fire broke out, engulfing nearly 10 acres. The blaze destroyed nearly 3,000 telephone lines, and claimed five lives

The Corktown Historical Society shares this photo depicts the historic intersection of Michigan & Trumbull aka “The Corner” in Detroit’s Corktown neighborhood in 1934, a year the Tigers won the AL pennant. They share “Trolley cars were a popular source of transportation to Tigers games during the 1930s, at least for those who could afford the fare during the Depression. In this photo, hundreds of fans exit a trolley car near Navin Field.”

Click through to their Instagram to see photos of Bennett Park & Briggs Stadium & follow them on Facebook for the latest … or is that earliest? 😉

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Step up for your Detroit Tiger All Stars!!

Gleyber Torres on Father's Day by Detroit Tigers

Gleyber Torres on Father’s Day by Detroit Tigers

You have until noon today (Thursday, June 26) to submit your vote for the first round of voting for the MLB All Star Game. With a record of 50-31, the Detroit Tigers are tied with defending champions the Los Angeles Dodgers for the best record in baseball.

Pictured above is AL leading second baseman Gleyber Torres on Father’s Day. Click the pic below to vote!

Return of the Turtle: Detroit Tigers Opening Day

Opening Day Flag Downtown Detroit Partnership

Opening Day Anthem by Downtown Detroit Partnership

For lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone, the flowers appear on the earth, the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land.

Friday, April 4th 2025 is the 124th Opening Day for the Detroit Tigers. As a resident of Midtown in Detroit, I can tell you that this is unquestionably one of the biggest holidays of the year for us. Already the streets are filling with cars as baseball fans from all over Michigan and the world get ready for Tiger Baseball to return to the Motor City!

I’ve rounded up some of the highlights with a laser focus on FREE including and Opening Day party at Grand Circus Park by the City of Detroit and a Wisconsin manufacturer of watery beer that features a LOT of great food trucks, DJ Invisible, and lots of video walls and screens. There’s another free party from noon – 6pm just across Woodward at one of my favorite venues, The Fillmore with giveaways, WRIF and the game on their MASSIVE screen (tell the security guys Andy sent you and they will laugh). Also on the free front are a party at Gilly’s with giveaways, raffle, face painting & DJ Ray Ya Dig (official DJ of the Lions) from 9 AM–4 PM. I think that the Opening Day Party with my friends The Honest to God Jug Band is free, but they’re so fun and Cliff’s Bells is SO cool that I think you won’t mind if there is a cover.

And everywhere there are giveaways, giveaways, giveaways including the House of Faygo Pop-up at Campus Martius this Friday – Sunday.

Here’s more information on the photos & happenings. Please add yours in the comments here or on our Facebook!

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Detroit Tigers ace Tarik Skubal wins AL Cy Young

Detroit Tigers Cy Young Winner Tarik Skubal

Detroit Tigers Cy Young Winner Tarik Skubal

Detroit Tigers left-hander Tarik Skubal received all 30 first-place votes to become the unanimous winner of the 2024 American League Cy Young Award last night, and as a bonus it was his 37th birthday!

Skubal is the fifth Tiger to win the award, joining Max Scherzer (2013), Justin Verlander (2011), Willie Hernández (1984) and Denny McLain (1968 and ’69). The dominant southpaw capped his pitching Triple Crown season on Wednesday by winning the AL Cy Young Award in a unanimous vote from members of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America

His 18 wins were the most by a Tiger since Scherzer had as many in 2014. His 2.39 ERA was the lowest by a qualified Detroit starter since Mark Fidrych’s incredible rookie season of 1976. His 5.9 fWAR trailed only Verlander’s 2009 and ’10 seasons as the most by a Tigers pitcher in his age-27 season or younger since 1971. His 6.3 bWAR not only led MLB pitchers, it ranked seventh among all AL players. Skubal became the 22nd player in Major League history to win a pitching Triple Crown. (and first since Verlander in 2011!)

Head over to the Detroit Tigers website for much more!

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Lions & Tigers & Skeletons oh my!

The Skeletons are Alive in Northville by Joel Williams

The Skeletons are Alive in Northville by Joel Williams

I know a lot of us have felt like we’d become skeletons before the Lions & Tigers were competitive, but here we are … even the Pistons won their first game of the season last night!

Happy Halloween everyone!! Joel took these ten years ago in Northville. See more in his The Skeletons are Alive in Northville & his Northville Skeletons 2016 galleries on Flickr!

Detroit Tigers Skeleton by Joel Williams

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The Detroit Tigers are October Ready 😤

October Ready 😤 by Detroit Tigers

The Detroit Tigers are the hottest team in baseball, ending the season on a 31-13 run and baseball’s best pitcher in Triple Crown winner Tarik Skubal (leader in wins, strikeouts & ERA) throwing in the opener vs the Houston Astros today at 2:32pm.

If you are in Detroit, you can watch the game live at Comerica Park with fellow fans for just $5! And if you want one of these sweet shirts, you know MLB will sell you one.

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Tigers Win!

Tigers Win (the Home Opener) by Dave Lorenz

In nearly 30 years of doing Michigan in Pictures, I’ve had a lot of firsts, but this is the first time I’ve shared a photo from the VP of Travel Michigan aka Pure Michigan! Dave has been an absolute champion for Michigan over the years. He was at the Detroit Tigers home opener that they won 5-4 and writes:

It was sunny.
It was cloudy.
It was windy.
It was cold.
It actually…snowed.
The Tiger’s won their ’24 opening home game.
A perfect day.

Agreed & let’s go Tigers!!

Get ready for the Detroit Tigers Home Opener!

The Detroit Tigers first Opening Day courtesy Detroit Historical Society

The Detroit Historical Society shared: The Detroit Tiger’s Opening Day has always been cause for celebration!  While baseball’s return and renewed championship hopes are enough to excite sports fans, the promise of the long summer days baseball brings with it never fails to put the rest of the city in a celebratory mood.

The caption of the photo is: Photo: c. 1886, from the Detroit Historical Society collection. Black and white photographic print depicting the Detroit Wolverines playing at Recreation Park, as seen from behind home plate. Mounted on board.

Definitely our red hot Tigers being THE ONLY undefeated team in baseball & in first place in the AL Central has the city extra fired up for the home opener against the Gonna Be in Vegas Next Year A’s.

Read more & see pics including the shot of them building the bleachers at Bennet Park/Navin Field back in 1910 at the Detroit Historical Society & let’s go Tigers!!

Play Ball 2022 with the Tigers Latest & Greatest

Latest & Greatest by Detroit Tigers

Latest & Greatest by Detroit Tigers

The Detroit Tigers open the 2022 baseball season at 1:10 PM today in Comerica Park. Vintage Detroit shared a really great history of Opening Day in Detroit that has all kinds of great trivia including the fact that in their first game in the American League on April 25, 1901:

…the Tigers made an amazing comeback on Opening Day at Bennett Park at the corner of Michigan and Trumbull. Detroit trailed the visiting Brewers 13-4 entering the bottom of the ninth. It seemed like the Tigers would start their entry in the American League with a lopsided loss. But wait…the Tigers got a runner on, then another, then a walk, and another hit, and a passed ball, and a hit, and another, and another. You get the idea. The Tigers scored ten runs to steal the game 14-13. The fans were thrilled to see the walkoff victory (though it would be decades before that term existed). Amazingly, the rally from nine runs down remains the biggest ninth inning comeback in league history.

The Tigers shared this pic of phenom Spencer Torkleson and one of their all-time greats Miguel Cabrera yesterday in their first practice at home. See more on their Facebook & let’s go Tigers!!

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