The nail biting question during the month of September for all Detroit Tigers fans ended on the first day of October. Yesterday the Detroit baseball team was able to seal their playoff bid by winning the American League Central Division for the second season in a row. And they did it in style.

Photo Credit: www.bettingsports.com The Tiger’s 6-3 win over the Royals was due to a large explosion of offence generated by the third baseman, Miguel Cabrera, who put on a performance you would only expect to see from a triple crown winner (an accomplishment that has yet to be reached since Carl Yastrzemski in 1967). Miguel went 4-5 and hit a homerun, bringing his total to 44, one ahead of Josh Hamilton.

Prince Fielder also had a big night hitting, earning 4 of the Tiger’s 14 hits. After the game when asked about winning the Division, Prince simply said, “It wasn’t easy, but we got it done. It’s awesome. It’s awesome.”

Jim Leyland had a more sentimental statement post celebration.

“By the way, thank you to all the fans back in Detroit. I doubt that you’re up right now, I don’t know maybe you are, but thank you for the support. I really appreciate it, I mean that. I can’t tell you how proud I am of you guys and the loyalty that you’ve shown to us, and uh, I hope you’re proud of us tonight. It’s tough times for people in Detroit, and we know that. And believe me, it’s not something that we don’t think about, you know, ‘cause we do. I come from a big family, my dad was a factory worker, I know all about stuff like that, worrying about getting laid off and stuff, so I have a great appreciation for that. It means so much to me, but I think during times like this, a sports team can uplift your spirits. And I hope that we’ve lifted up the spirits of our fans in Detroit because they deserve it.”

What a coach and what a team. The Tigers and Leyland put up a fair amount of criticism this year only to clinched a postseason berth and (very likely) have a MVP on the team’s roster for the second straight year. Are newly crowned Tigers poised to make a deep run in the playoffs this year? We will find out soon as October 6th marks the start of the ALDS play. The Tigers will face the A’s or Texans.