This is OUR year - the Tiger season begins THIS afternoon in Minneapolis against the Twins - and they're predicting brutal cold temps of 33-ish degrees at game time! (Nice scheduling, American League...b-r-r-r-r!)
Our Tiger lineup is LOCKED and LOADED this year - with Triple Crown MVP Miguel Cabera, Prince Fielder and Austin Jackson ALL coming off stellar seasons in 2012 - plus, the addition of veteran Gold-Glove outfielder Torii Hunter AND the return of Victor Martinez; makes our Detroit offense the projected best one-through-five in the majors!
Unquestionably, Detroit's starting rotation is the premiere staff of the league - with Justin Verlander (just signed to a HUGE 7-year contract extension) Max Scherzer, Doug Fister, Anibal Sanchez and Rick Porcello - that's a group that can go deep into ballgames, post a ton of K's and register 75 wins! Right now, it's looking like it's gonna be "closer-by-committee" and I don't have a problem with that - back in the "good old days" there was no such designation as "CLOSER," right? Between Albuquerque, Benoit, Dotel and Coke - we should be in good-shape outta-the-pen!
I'm glad that Gene Lamont has been reassigned to duties as Mgr. Jim Leyland's BENCH COACH and that Tom Brookens will now be in charge of relaying signals and controlling our runners on the basepaths - Lamont's time was due and I think having Brookens down at the third-base box will give new confidence to the players!
Miggy and Prince are beasts - and they do NOT sit-out games because of a stubbed-toe or a hangnail - they come to play and PERFORM! (Heck, Miggy has missed only TWO regular season games over the past two seasons - Prince has only missed ONE over the past FOUR seasons!)
As long as this team can avoid any major injuries (especially guys like Dirks, Avila and Martinez) it should be a season of accolades and another trip deep into the playoffs!
Go TIGERS!
My prediction? 98-64
Verlander wins 21 games
Miggy has another outstanding season - just misses another Triple Crown bid - and finishes in the neighborhood of .330 with 40 homers and 130 RBI.
Prince Fielder will have an even BETTER year than last - with Victor Martinez batting behind him - look for a .300-ish average with 35+ bombs!
Speaking of Martinez, he'll have a very good season - batting .310 with a ton of doubles and perhaps even a 100 RBI total!
There is NO MORE dead-weight in this lineup - as in past seasons - when the 7, 8, 9 hitters were all hitting sub-.200! This team is going to score a TON of runs - and we have the pitching to keep the opposition OFF the board! I think you'll see many more Tiger wins by the score of 7-0 and 5-1 this year - as opposed to 10-8 slugfests, with the outcome determined by whomever scored LAST!
It's going to be a fun and electrifying summer down at Comerica Park - Go TIGERS!
In the words of the immortal Ernie Harwell:
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.
