The Official Tigers Magic Number thread

[bezeach]

Preview of Yankees-Tigers

Season series: New York won 5-2.
Matchups: The Tigers' four postseason starters were a combined 0-4 against New York with a 5.94 ERA. The Yankees hope Randy Johnson is OK for the postseason. He was scratched from his final regular-season start because of a bad back.
Big picture: After 12 straight losing seasons and just three years removed from an embarrassing 119 defeats, Detroit finished 95-67 and clinched its first playoff spot since 1987. But needing one win to clinch the AL Central, the Tigers lost their last five games. The Yankees went 97-65 with a record $200 million payroll that lets New York field a starting lineup with nine all-stars.
Watch for: Dropped to sixth in the Yankees' batting order for Game 1, Alex Rodriguez has never reached the World Series and still is waiting for a signature hit.

[professor]

crap those other guys can hit...

[mercury]

Once again we're witness to the financial injustice of MLB... it's a shame these guys don't wake up... maybe they're from NY or L.A.

[LA Dre]

Some will second guess Leyland for the SB attempt in the second, but that can be blamed on Pudge who was the only Tiger who failed to get a hit tonight and not only swung and missed on the steal attempt, but struck out afterwards.

Tigers get 5 doubles and two Hrs but only score 4 runs. A couple of those doubles were lead off hits. Unfortunately they grounded into 2 double plays, one started by Jeter who was all world out there tonight.

pitching is still shakey giving up double digit hit again for the sixth game in a row.

As they say in the little leagues, we get'em tomorrow coach.

[jammertime]

Originally Posted by mercury

Once again we're witness to the financial injustice of MLB... it's a shame these guys don't wake up... maybe they're from NY or L.A.

So true. The Jays have been battling this forever. They increased their payroll by $20 million this season to approx. $72 million and yet that's not even HALF the Yankees payroll and just over half of that of the Red Sox.

In fact, their $72 million payroll ranks them third in their own division, just behind Baltimore as well.

The Tigers are 14th in the league at $82.6 million.

There is a $180 MILLION DOLLAR DIFFERENCE between the top payroll (the Yanks @ $200 million) and the bottom payroll (the Marlins @ $15). Six different PLAYERS on the Yankees EACH make more than the entire Florida TEAM.

How the HECK are teams supposed to compete with that?