Tigers fans' least favorite sportswriter clearly has not watched Detroit this year

The Detroit Tigers have been through quite the gauntlet in 2024. On Sept. 1, they had just a 7.4% chance of making the playoffs, according to Fangraphs, and were just two games above .500. Then, with their backs against the wall, Detroit went on a stretch run for the ages.

Not only did they make the playoffs, but they convincingly bounced the always-formidable Astros in the first round. Unfortunately, it doesn't appear as though Detroit columnist Mitch Albom was paying attention.

In the wake of the Tigers' ALDS Game 1 loss to the Guardians, Albom all of a sudden remembered that the Tigers existed and decided to pen a column about the Tigers' misfortune.

While he does raise a couple mildly interesting points, it was also abundantly clear that he has barely kept tabs on the Tigers at all, and readers were left worse for it.

Mitch Albom's take that the Tigers are "overdue" for a punch in the mouth is grossly out of touch

Albom has a well-earned reputation of turning a blind eye to the Detroit sports world until something happens that can't be ignored. Gone are the days when he would chime in regularly to share his insights on the Tigers' season for better or worse.

Seriously, go look at Albom's archive at the Detroit Free Press. You will find a column about Detroit being a baseball town again once the Tigers made the playoffs. After that, absolute crickets.

More than that, Albom's column reads like a college student who doesn't actually follow baseball, is primarily a boxing fan, and and has a report due the next day. When in doubt, fill the entire article with tired boxing cliches and metaphors and occasionally sprinkle Tigers' players names in there. His overarching theme in this one? Detroit wasn't going to win every game. Wow, thrilling.

More than that, though, Albom implies that the Tigers haven't been through adversity this year and how they respond to it finally will be the true test. He said this about a Tigers team that looked dead in the water in mid-August while they were living through horrid Javy Baez at-bats. The Tigers aren't a perfect team by any stretch, but to suggest they aren't battle-tested is completely out of touch.

At the very least, Albom did at least acknowledge that Tarik Skubal gives the Tigers a real edge when he is on the mound, and he is sort of right that Detroit will have to not let their loss in Game 1 get to them. However, it would have been nice to see that point relayed by someone that has actually watched the Tigers play this year instead of a part-time veteran sports columnist that sounds more like he wishes he could write about Hagler vs. Hearns again.

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