They haven't played the division series for all that long. And Lord knows Detroit hasn't played in that many of them anyway. Yet with Thursday's series win over the Oakland A's, the Tigers have improved their ALCS record to a sterling 4-0. A streak that began with 2006's thrilling three-games-to-one conquest of the New York Yankees, and has grown over the past three seasons with another win over the Yanks in 2011 and back-to-back wins over the A's, each delivered by Justin Verlander in lights-out game 5 performances.
Stats Incredible: With the ALDS win over Oakland on Thursday night, Jim Leyland has now won more series as manager of the Detroit Tigers than the Detroit Tigers have won without him.
Since the birth of the Detroit franchise in 1909, the Tigers have four World Series championships under their belt, as well as their lone ALCS win over Kansas City on their way to the 1984 world championship. In Leyland's first season at the helm, the Motor City Kitties won the AL pennant, defeating the New York Yankees and Oakland A's along the way. That, coupled with last year's pennant run and Thursday's ALDS win, brings the grand total of series wins under Smokes to six.
Stats Incredible: the Tigers have never lost to the Boston Red Sox in the playoffs.
You couldn't have lost to someone you've never played. This is the first postseason series between the two storied franchises.
