What's Got Me Worried

I am a big believer in luck, karma, and other assorted superstitions in baseball. Not so much in real life, but I believe there are Baseball Gods that dole out rewards and punishments according to teams' and fans' deservedness (that's a new word for you). So, naturally, the expectations of Detroit media and fans, in addition to the national media attention has a got me freaked out.

For most of the day today, the secondary story on ESPN.com was about how the Tigers' hopes weren't diminished by their poor showing yesterday. This is a team who a few years ago wouldn't make Sportscenter unless they were about to set a record for losses in a season. One of the reasons this team succeeded a year ago is that they were the underdogs and had that "every one's counting us out" mentality. Everyone saw what happened when they lost that mentality in the World Series. Now they've spent the entire off-season reading about how good they are, how they're supposed to win everything this year, blah blah blah.

Last season was a bone from the Baseball Gods. How often does pretty much the same roster from a season before win 95 games after losing 100? Tiger players and fans should do whatever they can to keep the Baseball Gods happy because they can take away success just as fast as they gave it to us. Expectations and cockiness will only get us broken hearts in the playoffs (look at the Yankees since the year 2000).

The Tigs should go far this year. The Tigs should be a good team this year. In no way does this mean they will be a good team. Cleveland would be a good example of what can happen when expectations weigh a team down. After a good 2005 season, they were supposed to be the AL Central Champions in 2006. However, the Baseball Gods still hate Cleveland because of their racist mascot, and so they were one of the bottom feeders in the division last year. Anything can piss off the Baseball Gods- we better make sure we appease them.