Why I'm not worried about .500 on May 14... The Tigers have played 34 games (1/5 of the season). They are wrapping up a long (9 game) road trip out west with 2 more games in Chicago. They are 1 game behind the suprisingly first place Indians. You know what? I could have simply copied and pasted that paragraph from 2011. Each statement is almost exactly true from last year (Detroit was 3 1/2 games behind the "surprising Indians" then. How did 2011 work out? Pretty well (in my humble opinion). The Tigers were 2 games away from the World Series. Let's take a look at the team we have today versus the team we had 12 months ago. Verlander, Fister, Porcello, Scherzer, Smyly versus Verlander, Scherzer, Porcello, Penny and Coke. Between you and me, gentle reader, I'll take this year's rotation. For position players we have Jackson, Dirks, Cabrerra, Fielder, Young, Avila, Boesch, Peralta and Raburn. Last year it was Jackson, Rhymes, Ordonez, Cabrera, Martinez, Raburn, Inge and Avila. Again, I'd rather have the 2012 line up on my side than the 2011 version. Are they producing right now? No, they aren't. Is the sky falling down around us in burning heaps of molten sky? No, it isn't. In fact the Tigers are at .500 and 1 game out of first place. In spite of an OPS of .700 (the League OPS is .725) they are at a .500 record. In spite of only scoring 4.18 runs/ game they are at a .500 record. Are the Indians better than last year's version? No, I don't believe so. How about the White Sox? No, I still don't think so. The Twins threw in the towel for 2012. The Royals are getting better, but I don't see them taking the AL Central Division. In fact, let's look at who the Tigers have played so far this season. Boston, Tampa, CWS, KC, Texas, Seattle, Yankees and Oakland. Out of those 8 teams, 3 were in the playoffs last year (along with the Tigers) and another would have been if they hadn't imploded at the end. Not an easy first month of the year. For the rest of May they face the White Sox, Twins, Pirate, Indians and Red Sox. Not to take anything from those teams, but the rest of the month should be easier on Detroit than the first half was. So, take heart. It's a long season, and as we learned last year, lots of great baseball can be played in the remaining 80% of the season. Don't jump off of the Bandwagon just yet.

Pitchers, Catchers and Bloggers Report

Today is day that pitchers and catchers report. It is also the day that part time bloggers report.

Like many players, I am not reporting in the best shape of my life (that distinction apparently goes to Miguel Cabrera). Maybe I'm more like Joaquin Benoit (at least according to Kurt) and kind of pudgy (not to be confused with Pudgy, not that any of you would do that).

Of course expectations are sky high going into 2012. The Tigers have both Miguel Cabrera AND Prince Fielder. They have Justin Verlander. They have Jim Leyland. For that matter they have Mike Illitch and he wants to win. He wants the whole enchilada and he wants it this year. I heartily concur with that focus. These guys are in their prime. The supporting cast is quite good (Boesch, Young, Jackson, Fister).

There are questions which remain. Can Rick Porcello realize the potential everyone sees in him? Can Max Scherzer put it together this year? Can we find a 2nd baseman who will do the job? Who will pitch on the days that the starters don't make it out of the 4th or 5th inning? Can Valverde come close to repeating last year's excellence? Who will be the 5th starter? (Does it matter?)

We can explore all of this as it unfolds. I think this is going to be an amazing year. Yet, I remember the disaster of 2008. I remember thinking about getting World Series tickets at Opening Day (yes, I really did). That didn't work out so well did it?

The difference between 2008 and 2012 is pitching. This year the Tigers have it. That year they didn't.

Either way let's hang on for the ride and enjoy our summer. It starts tomorrow with the first work outs of the year!