It’s been tough for Detroit sports fans recently.  All of our legendary teams — the Lions, Red Wings, Wolverines, Spartans — all have spectacular talent but they haven’t been able to seal the deal.  The Tigers, after stinking for more than a decade, joined that “talented but still losers” club in 2006, going all the way to the Fall Classic behind phenomenal pitching… which fell apart at the seams at the end.

Well, it’s 2008 now, and the Tigers are stuffed full of The Talent.  I think every Tigers fan has big expectations this year, and for good reason.  But I’ve been looking at some Tigers history, and we’ve also got plenty of reason to have big worries about this year, too.

This is the first in an ongoing Important Blog Series about the Tigers: Roaring to the World Series.

Let’s look at how the Tigers have changed since last season’s early disappointment.  First up is The Trade.  The Tigers’ brilliant architect, Dave Dombrowski, sent two top prospects away in return for one of the most powerful lineups in memory.  We’ve now got Miguel Cabrera, a young but powerful slugger.  He joins the ranks along with hit machines like Magglio Ordonez, Curtis Granderson, and Placido Polanco.  And to round out the lineup we’ve got Gary Sheffield, Jacque Jones, Edgar Renteria, and Pudge Rodriguez.  I think we’re going to start getting RBI’s during batting practice, before the game even starts.

This nuclear-powered lineup is fitting for a team with a history of powerful lineups — from Ty Cobb in the earliest days to Kirk Gibson in the 80’s, Cecil Fielder in the 90’s, then Magglio Ordonez in the 00’s, and now Cabrera for the future.  But great lineups haven’t always led to glory for the Tigers.  Again and again in the Cobb era, despite putting up legendary hitting numbers, the Tigers couldn’t win it all.  It took more than just Gibson’s home run heroics to put the Tigers over the top in 1984.  That’s because winning it all requires great pitching.

The Tigers had one of the best pitching staffs in the world in 2006, and that’s what powered the team to the Series.  But since 06, things have gotten hairy.  Our flamethrowing relief pitcher, Joel Zumaya, is suffering from a freak accident to The Shoulder — he’s out for half the season, at least, and he might never have another year like he did in 06.  The relief pitching staff is banged up and unproven to say the least.  It’s easy to imagine the Tigers throwing away a lot of big leads in the 8th and 9th innings.  The starting pitchers look a bit better, led by young prodigy Justin Verlander and wily veteran Kenny Rogers.  But overall, the pitching staff is uncomfortably shaky, especially new acquisition Dontrelle Willis, who apparently has serious problems with his control.   Defense (and especially pitching) wins championships, and this is the most questionable part of the Tigers’ roster as we head into Opening Day.

So, the outlook for the season is good, but not great.  The Tigers should handle the American League Central, with Cleveland as the only credible rival left, after the White Sox meltdown last year, the Twins dismantled themselves in the off season, and Kansas City is improving but still several years away from posing a serious threat.  The Tigers’ real competition will be Boston, who have a lineup almost as stacked as Detroit’s, and a pitching staff to boot.  If we end up meeting Boston in the ALCS, the Tigers will have a rough time getting to the Series.  If the Yankees take care of the Sox for us, and if the pitching staff comes together and learns how to field the position, there’s no reason why 2008 can’t be our year.

All right, that’s enough from me.  Check out the best Tigers website on the internet, where they’ve got the top 15 items to make the 2008 Tigers season enjoyable.  The Freep’s season preview is up, too.  Let’s go Tigers!