Opening Day

I was regretting that my schedule got in the way of doing a proper preview of this series, but after thinking more about it, I’m not. If you do a preview, you’re going to get the feeling the Tigers will get absolutely railroaded in this series. At least, that seems to be the consensus across the country. I mean, Guillen is the Tigers’ best hitter this season and the Yankees have probably five guys who are better hitters. The Yankees’ pitchers have had their struggles this season, but they don’t seem to have come very often against the Tigers. Mussina, Wang and Johnson have all had their way with the lineup at different points this season.

So all I can say is the playoffs aren’t the regular season, and nobody has any idea what the hell is going to happen. They may act like they do, and their predictions may even turn out to be right, but there’s a difference between probabilities and outcomes and any team in this league can win three out of five. For Christ’s sake, Daniel Cabrera almost no-hit the Yankees last week. Show me one sportswriter in America who hasn’t picked the Yankees to win the World Series at least once over the span covering 2001 to 2005. There may be one - I haven’t checked - but I doubt it. These may be the rantings of a desperate fan, but I’ve watched this team do amazing things this season, and I’m not ready to concede they won’t do more.

I will say that my heart dies a little every time I read that the Tigers will lose in four since I have tickets to what would be the deciding game if that prediction comes true. Still, it’s October and my heart is racing at the thought of 8:19 this evening.

Go Tigers.