Despite detour in Game 4, Tigers fans more hopeful than sad for finale

DETROIT — The magical mystery tour took a slight detour Thursday for Detroit Tigers fans.

The team’s 5-4 loss to the Cleveland Guardians sent their series back to Ohio for a fifth and deciding game Saturday.

Patti Tyson of Woodhaven said she was sad but hopeful about a team that has defied the odds the past two months.

“It’s too bad but we’re still gonna win,” Tyson said after the last out. “Don’t count us out.”

Lish Pearson of Southside also was disappointed but remained ever loyal to a team that has brought unrelenting joy since August.

“You can’t give up. They don’t,” Pearson said about the Tigers.

During the game, fans remained hopeful that the Tigers’ would clinch the series Thursday. For the second day in a row, the crowd seemed to rise and fall with the exploits of their favorite squad.

While Wednesday’s game was more festive, with the Tigers leading throughout, Thursday was more tense with the score remaining tied in the middle of the contest. Fans were hanging on every pitch, cheering or moaning.

They continued to boo Guardians left fielder Steven Kwan for a disputed catch he made in Game 2 of the series, which seemed like a lifetime ago.

The excitement actually began before the game as fans cheered the introduction of the players with their 70-foot-long faces beamed from the video board in the outfield.

Mike Williams of Bloomfield Hills said he would be lying if he said he wasn’t getting dejected toward the end of the game, when the Tigers lost the lead and began to think about returning to Cleveland for the series.

“I got my hopes up,” Williams said. “But we got (Tarik) Skubal pitching so I think we’ll win.”

Once the Tigers lost the lead, the rising mood of the crowd reversed and fans were dejected but still hoped for the best.

Despite the loss, fans were still heartened by the team's recent play. They just didn't know how to account for it.

Voodoo? Hocus-pocus? Living under the right sign of the zodiac? Fans at the game were wondering which of the dark arts had brought their team this far.

Devilry or divination, color them enchanted.

“Who would think we’d be celebrating baseball in Detroit in October?” asked Frank Woodman of Hamtramck. “Detroit loves a winner. We love baseball.”

Woodman said miracles occur everyday across the world. A sunset is one, he said. A winning baseball team is another.

But, dear fans, how are the young Tigers besting experienced teams whose rosters they might struggle to make? Surely some sorcery is involved. The Tigers are now tied two games apiece with the Cleveland Guardians and need one more victory to advance to the American League championship round.

Kelly Wendt of Toronto said it has a lot more to do with hard work than magic. And yet, she was wearing the same Tiger-print onesie she wore to the Tigers’ victory on Wednesday.

“I’m a little superstitious,” she allowed. “It’s the same outfit but we have different seats.”

Different seats? Stop messing with the mojo, Kelly.

Some fans don’t believe all this mumbo jumbo about magical thinking. They dismissed “Damn Yankees,” the Broadway musical about a fan who sold his soul to the devil for a baseball victory, as pure fiction.

Jerry Reale of Livonia said he was well aware of the musical but said it had nothing to do with what was happening in Detroit this summer.

But, just to be sure, Reale was asked if he had any recent conversations with Lucifer. He hasn’t but he was watched plenty of baseball and began to believe in the Tigers several weeks ago.

“They have heart; they don’t need the devil,” he said about “Damn Yankees” comparison. “They’re a team of destiny.”

All of the credit goes to the manager, A.J. Hinch, Reale said. The skipper seems to be making all the right moves during this improbable run through the regular season and playoffs.

Some fans arrived Thursday fresh from the exhilarating win over the Cleveland a day earlier. The victory had them poised to clinch the series with a win today.

Sheree Bashak of Toronto was still giddy from the big win Wednesday. One way to treat a Detroit baseball hangout is to see more Detroit baseball.

“Oh my goodness, it was a wonderful environment,” Bashak said about the earlier game. “The emotions were so great.”

Game 3 was made even better by the polite fans in front of her, Bashak said. The other fans stood often during the exhilarating contest but always moved apart so she could watch the action unimpeded.

The streets around Comerica Park were flooded with fans wearing Tigers’ apparel. The sea of orange was delighted with what has happened thus far and may in the future.

Many posed for photos with the Tiger statue near one of the ballpark’s entrances. Others tailgated on small plots of grass along parking lots surrounding the stadium.

Genny Reale walked around in the shadow of the statue, just basking in the jubilation and anticipation.

She was easy to spot because of her outfit: a Tigers’ striped onesie with Tigers ears and whiskers face-painted on her cheeks.

Reale, who’s 74, has been watching the team a long time but says nothing compared to this year.

“This is out of the blue. They never expected this,” she said.

Meanwhile, Phil Franklin of Monroe was busily grilling hot dogs across the street from the stadium. He didn’t have tickets to the game but didn’t care. He just wanted to luxuriate in the bedlam surrounding the baseball team from Detroit.

Another plus of eating outside the ballpark: no $6.50 hot dogs.

“It’s a lot cheaper,” Franklin said about the meal.

Still, Franklin wouldn’t mind someone offering him a ticket to get into the ballpark. Maybe a trade could be worked out. It would likely cost more than a hot dog, he said. Maybe two?

At Grand Circus Park, Kenny Brown of Detroit was profiting from the Tigers’ success. As he does during the regular season, he was selling peanuts from a cart. Like the baseball team, he feels like he’s playing with house money at this point.

“Doing good, real good,” Brown said.

Apparently happiness equals extravagance, he said. Playoff fans seemed to be spending more money than regular season ones, he said.

Indeed, Brown was doing a brisk business before the game Thursday. The line was several people deep and remained that way. Some fans said they were trying to avoid buying peanuts at the ballpark.