Tigers Road to the World Series

Tigers Road to the World Series

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Just days after Victor Martinez tore his ACL, the Tigers swooped in to snag the biggest hitter still left on the free-agent market, giving Prince Fielder a nine-year, $214 million contract. Fielder would go on to bat a career high .313 while reaching 30 home runs for the sixth time and 100 RBIs for the fifth time.

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Justin Verlander had already thrown two no-hitters in his career when on May 18 he came within two outs of a third against the Pirates. Josh Harrison broke it up, preventing Verlander from joining legends Cy Young, Bob Feller, Sandy Koufax and Nolan Ryan as the only modern era pitchers with more than two no-hitters.

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The Tigers opened the year with four straight wins but quickly fell into a rut, and by early June they were six games under .500. They righted themselves, however, and by the time the All-Star Game approached, they ran off their longest winning streak to date, five wins in a row. They won their first game after the break as well for their sixth straight win, which would match their season high.

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The Tigers went streaking again in late July, winning five straight, including a sweep of the White Sox, to briefly move into first place. The day after finishing off Chicago, Detroit acquired Omar Infante and Anibal Sanchez from the Marlins, moves that would pay dividends in October.

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Despite the summer surge, the Tigers fell back again, and trailed the White Sox by three games as late as Sept. 18. It took just eight games for them to erase that deficit and take over the AL Central lead outright, moving into first place for good on Sept. 26 with a 5-4 win over the Royals.

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The Tigers wrapped up their second straight division crown but that was secondary to what Miguel Cabrera did. With a 4-for-5 night, including his 44th home run, Cabrera all but wrapped up the first Triple Crown in the majors since 1967.

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Detroit won the first two games of its Division Series matchup with the A's but lost Games 3 and 4 in Oakland, including blowing a ninth-inning lead in the latter. In Game 5, the visiting Tigers turned to Justin Verlander, who held Oakland to just four hits while striking out 11 in a 6-0 win.

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The Tigers completed a convincing four-game sweep of the Yankees with an 8-1 pounding of New York in Game 4. Miguel Cabrera homered and Jhonny Peralta added two of his own for Detroit, which never trailed in the ALCS en route to its 11th American League pennant.