The 2006 season began brightly for the Detroit Tigers, a team that had posted a losing record in each of its preceding twelve seasons. The Tigers went 76-36 (.679) in the the first 112 games of the 2006 season, running up a ten-game lead in their division. The Detroiters then went cold and played 29-31 (.483) the rest of the way. As a result, they finished second in their division. Nevertheless, as a wild-card entry in post-season play, the Tigers managed to win the American League championship and advance to the World Series -- a feat the underscores the vagaries of short, post-season series, which often see inferior teams come out on top.
But I digress. The tale of the 2006 Tigers (pun intended) has been retold, with embellishments, by the 2007 and 2008 teams. The 2007 team started 60-40 (.600), but finished 28-34 (.452) and wound up eight games behind the division leader (and, mercifully, out of the playoffs). The 2008 Tigers managed briefly to eke out a winning record -- peaking at 52-49 (.515) -- but have since played 19-31 (.380). If they don't finish last in their division it will be thanks to the perennially abysmal Kansas City Royals.
So much for the Tigers' (partial) season of glory, or sic transit gloria mundi.
UPDATE (09/24/08): The Tigers have lost six in a row, are a game behind KC, and face a season-ending four-game series with the Tampa Bay Rays. Even though the Tigers may manage to escape the cellar by a whisker (another pun intended), there can be no doubt that they have reverted to their perennially abysmal ways. Since their last division championship, 21 seasons ago, they have had only five winning seasons. Toothless.
