The Detroit Tigers playoffs are among the greatest in the city's history

Christopher Ilitch was dry.

Way too dry.

So Riley Greene calmly walked up to the Tigers owner and put a pair of safety glasses on him.

Then Greene led Ilitch around the champagne-soaked clubhouse at Comerica Park on Friday night after the Tigers defeated the Chicago White Sox and clinched a playoff spot for the first time since 2014.

“Yo, hey!” Greene yelled to his teammates. “Hey! Hey! Hey!”

If you’ve ever wondered about the just-24-year-old Greene’s place in this organization – or even just his sheer, fearless confidence – it was clear in that moment.

Greene held two beer cans in his left hand and wrapped his right arm around Ilitch, pulling him into the chaos. They reached the center of the celebrations and several players left, so to speak: Holy shit, there’s the owner!

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The players started jumping up and down like they were on the dance floor at a club, and Ilitch was jumping up and down. Ilitch raised both arms in the air and it was like he was standing under a shower of champagne and beer, and Oh my God, can you believe this?

You did it.

This young, determined, resilient, energetic, athletic – and still developing – team defied the odds and made history.

Ilitch took off his glasses and gave Matt Vierling a high-five.

“Incredible!” Ilitch said a moment later.

Yes, incredible.

As the team celebrated, manager AJ Hinch stood on the sidelines trying to take it all in.

I try to remember every second of it.

Because the Tigers have simply done something absolutely remarkable. This team was 55-63 as of August 10th – eight games under .500. They had traded productive major league players (hey, Jack Flaherty) and were considered dead – or at least a high draft pick.

But they kept fighting, kept working, kept fighting, took it one game at a time – as Hinch preaches – but most importantly, they kept winning, and here they are in the playoffs.

The only other team to do that in baseball history? Climb out of a hole like that? The 1973 Mets, back then there were two divisions in each league and a total of four playoff spots.

“I’m pretty overwhelmed that we did this, not because of our talent, not because of our faith, but because of the opportunity,” Hinch said. “We had to do a lot.”

Every player on this team has a unique story – from the rookies to the guys who have struggled for years.

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But think for a moment about Hinch’s journey to this moment.

Hinch knows Detroit. And he knows all the problems in the Motor City. He played 27 games on the 2003 Tigers team that lost 119 games, an American League record until the White Sox broke it last week. But he also has tremendous success — leading the Houston Astros to the postseason in four of his five seasons there and winning the 2017 World Series.

When he was fired by the Astros in 2019, suspended for a season and tainted by the franchise’s sign-stealing scandal, he didn’t know if he’d ever make it again. But the Tigers gave him a chance — a lifeline, actually — and he simply led them to one of the greatest and most improbable sports stories (at least for the regular season) in Detroit history.

“It means a lot to me to be the leader of this team and for an organization to take the risk of putting me in that chair again,” said Hinch, his eyes glazing over and emotions simmering.

“I wasn’t planning on talking about it, but it’s really important to me to see a team respond the way they did and come into October as winners.”

Yes, they are winners.

Let that sink in.

After all the rebuilds, after all the trade deadline trades, after all the high draft picks, after all the painful losing seasons, this team is on its way back to the playoffs.

“Ultimately we want to see us win baseball in Detroit, we want to qualify for the playoffs and ultimately we want to win a world championship,” Ilitch said when he hired Scott Harris as president of baseball operations in September 2022. “We “I’ve made it very clear that that’s the goal.”

Goal achieved – at least the first stage.

This is a winning team.

No, it’s more than that.

It’s a playoff team.

Check, check.

Apparently there is more.

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As the team celebrated, Hinch, Ilitch and Harris stood to the side.

“I’m really excited for Scott Harris,” Ilitch said. “It all starts with Scott. You know, he had a vision. He has a plan. He executes it.”

On Friday night, Hinch assembled a lineup in which five of the Tigers’ first seven in the batting order acquired Harris through either trade or waiver claims. And they beat the White Sox 4-1.

“AJ Hinch, what can I say?” Ilitch said. “Amazing leader. He is our field general.

That wasn’t it Hang on the edge of your seat Drama.

No, it seemed inevitable — the Tigers entered Friday with three chances to beat the White Sox and three chances for the Twins to lose, and they only needed one of those six events for a playoff spot.

It was more like a celebration, and Tigers fans filled Comerica with 44,435 spectators.

“Born and raised on the south side of Detroit” The fans sang.

Indeed. Don’t stop believing.

And after the game, the celebration started on the field – a really cool moment for fans to watch – and then spread to the clubhouse.

“I don’t want this to end!” Greene screamed.

They sprayed beer and poured champagne over each other’s heads and danced and screamed and smiled and it got hot and sweaty and Spencer Torkelson searched through an empty bin of champagne bottles to see if he could find more and…

And?

“We need more beer!” someone shouted.

Yes, the boys ran out of beer.

Quick note: If you want to have fun at a bar, invite Jason Foley – he’s wonderfully crazy.

And Greene.

And Jake Rogers.

And Tarik Skubal.

And, well, everyone. They all just seem to fit together perfectly.

“It means a lot,” Skubal said. “You know, the youth we traded away at the deadline and then, you know, look at us now. I think it means a lot to the guys in this clubhouse and it says a lot about the guys in this clubhouse.”

It’s a wild collection of players.

A couple of absolute studs in Greene and Skubal.

But they are mainly small children.

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“I wouldn’t say we ever felt like a young team,” Greene said. “We’re just going to go out there and just try to play our best version of baseball as best we can.”

But it’s an incredibly well-coordinated team.

A well-coordinated team that left a big mess behind.

“Jobe has to clean up the clubhouse!” Skubal shouted.

He was joking.

I find.

Contact Jeff Seidel: [email protected]. Follow him on X @seideljeff. To read his latest columns, go to freep.com/sports/jeff-seidel.

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The Detroit Tigers playoffs are among the greatest in the city’s history

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