Cell phone rings, and Jim Leyland distracted pregame media session with the visiting Manager's Office in Oakland in the morning after the Tigers clinched the American League Central Division.
"You guys are just 3 1/2 back," Leyland told La Russa, St. Louis Cardinals NL wild card chase. "Anything can happen in this game."
For the second year in a row, spraying champagne last season's team is one that does not make the playoffs until the last possible instant: San Francisco in 2010 and now the card. Both will stand as a testament to the virtues of friendship and chemistry.
This is a lesson that Mike Ilitch, Dave Dombrowski and Leyland to be considered when approaching what would be the Tigers ' off-season rates high. They will make some changes, and Ilitch would spend money when necessary.
But more important print team that you know will fight together through ebbs and flows as opposed to only collect player and fill the hole. Yammer's free agent acquisition and padded payrolls will generate buzz, but it will not always get you out of the first round of the playoffs.