August 3, 2010
Frank Wladyslawski-Writer
In the summer of 2006 citizens of Michigan watched as a race heated up heading toward the state’s governor election in November. Political ads ran nearly every television commercial break and almost anywhere else we looked. However, during this particular summer there was another race many of us were paying attention to.
For the first time in nearly two decades the Detroit Tigers were heading full steam toward a spot in baseball’s postseason. Much of this success was attributed to first year manager Jim Leyland. It seemed every move he made was the right one and victories began to pile up because of it. By August the Tigers appeared to be in a one-horse race as they gained a 10 game lead in the American League Central Division.
Suddenly things came to a screeching halt and Tiger victories were not nearly as common. The team went 25-30 over the final two months and let Minnesota overtake them as division champs. Luckily a stockpile of first half victories carried over and sent Detroit into the American League Wild Card playoff spot. Based on the Tiger’s ending performance, no postseason success was expected by anyone.
As a shock to the entire baseball world, Detroit raged into the playoffs and caught fire. They left the New York Yankees and Oakland Athletics in their wake as they headed for the World Series for the first time in 22 years. Nearly anyone who had begun to doubt Leyland’s managerial skills was now back on board with him. Unfortunately for Detroit, St. Louis defeated the Tigers in five games to take the 2006 World Series crown.
Detroit fans were upset over the loss to St. Louis, but saw it as only one of many more possible World Series trips to come under Leyland. Some fans perceived his leadership skills to actually transcend baseball. The upcoming governor election was the perfect outlet and a write-in campaign for Leyland actually began. Several signs, t-shirts and even a freeway billboard called for Michigan residents to write in Leyland. Although the Tiger manager had no realistic chance of winning this “campaign”, it symbolized what the 2006 season meant to Detroit fans.
Fast forward to August 2010…………. Once again Michigan is following a governor race and being bombarded with daily campaign propaganda, just as we were in 2006. Tiger fans have again seen their team play championship contending baseball, just as we witnessed four seasons ago. Dismally, Detroit has also begun to mirror that year’s regular season performance by going into a second half slump.
One big difference in 2010 for the Tigers though is that fewer first half wins were achieved. In 2006 they were 59-29 in the first half and this year only 48-38. Another unfortunate fact of 2010 is that the Tigers are 5-15 since the all-star break. This has left them 7 games out of first place and 13.5 games out of the Wild Card spot. Considering this team’s performance now, it is a safe bet any Leyland for Governor write-in campaign in 2010 would not get much support.
To see the big picture we now need to fill in the three years not discussed here yet, the seasons of 2007-2009. Sadly this same pattern of first half success and second half failure existed in those years as well. From 2006-2010 Detroit is 254–187 before the All-Star break and 141-171 in the second half.
2007 saw the Tigers in a close divisional battle with Cleveland until August. At that point they seemed to give up the fight. This was magnified by a late season series sweep in Cleveland that ended all remaining pennant hopes. At seasons end the Tigers were 8 games out of first place.
Detroit recovered from a horrible start in 2008 and still poised to challenge for the A.L. Central by mid season. Their level of play quickly dropped off again and they went 27-41 in the second half. Despite a high level of player talent brought in for 2008, the Tigers finished at the very bottom of the division
A strong start to the 2009 season helped to make fans forget the catastrophe of the previous season. However, those same fans were then forced to watch a collapse of historical proportions. On Sept. 6 Detroit had a 7 game lead, but proceeded to quickly give it up after that. They were left tied with Minnesota on Oct.4 and handed them the division crown by losing a one-game playoff on Oct. 6.
Here in 2010 a second half collapse is unfolding once again right before our eyes. It appears that the final 8-10 weeks of the season will be painful to watch for the fifth consecutive year. They currently sit eight games out of first place and things are quickly going from bad to worse.
Recent injuries to Brandon Inge, Magglio Ordonez and Carlos Guillen have hurt the Tigers. More importantly though, the team was already showing signs of a second half drop off before those three were on the disabled list. The Tigers followed up the All-Star break by going on a six-game losing streak. Four of those losses came at the hands of last place Cleveland. As mentioned earlier, Detroit has continued on to only win five games since the break.
As fans we have to ask why we are watching a regular season break down for the fifth year in a row. We have to wonder why the Tigers excel from April–July then seem to completely fall off the map. A litany of excuses for this has been given to us over those years, none of which even deserves repeating here.
Throughout these five years there has been one common denominator in this problem and that is Jim Leyland. It’s true that in 2006 he helped rescue this team from historic futility and nearly took it all the way to a world championship. But even in that year, second half problems plagued the Tigers.
Ultimately player performance is what dictates on-field success and equates to wins or losses. Nonetheless, it is difficult to blame a set of players for poor second half performances five years in a row. There have been several Tiger roster changes, meaning many different players have come and gone from Detroit in that time frame.
The manager and coaching staff have a responsibility to instruct their players and learn what motivates them. It appears that Leyland and his staff only find this necessary in the first half of a season. Leyland’s attitude in the second half seems to be: “I’ve already said all I’m going to say and now these guys have to get out there and do it.” This is of course pure conjecture and opinion, since only Leyland and the players can truly comment on daily team matters.
If this is in fact the case, he is using some faulty reasoning. It is undeniable that these players are talented professionals with very large paychecks, but they are also still human beings. Very few people will argue that all of us need at least a little motivation throughout our entire lives.
A baseball season consists of 162 games, half of which involves a grueling travel schedule forcing teams to traverse the country several times. The players must then arrive at each ballpark ready to play their best. They are expected to excel against other pro athletes despite minor injuries, poor weather conditions, slumps, heckling fans or personal matters on their mind. As a season continues, we can only imagine these issues or other obstacles might become even more difficult to handle.
Those of us who have watched the Tigers over the last five years will admit that players seem to lose focus in the second half. Suddenly hitters swing at more bad pitches, base runners make bad decisions, pitchers chronically miss the strike zone and outfielders start misjudging fly balls.
A glaring example of the problem was seen from Curtis Granderson toward the end of last season. The outfield play of Granderson had amazed the entire baseball world since his rookie season of 2006 and he was considered one of the best. But suddenly he was taking poor routes to balls hit his way and making mistakes in the outfield. His problems were ultimately a contributing factor to the team’s epic demise of 2009.
It is safe to say that problems arise on every team during the course of a season. The winning managers are the ones who quickly recognize this and have a positive approach toward fixing them. The likes of Mike Scioscia, Charlie Manuel and Bobby Cox have all seen second half struggles at times from their teams and individual players. The difference between them and Leyland is that they had a solid strategy for dealing with it. Their multiple post-season trips speak for themselves.
Leyland has been blessed with several excellent players on his rosters since 2006. The players on Detroit’s teams since then have always had enough collective talent for a full season pursuit of a division championship. Unfortunately Leyland seems content with only cultivating that talent for one half of a season.
We can all understand that motivating other people is usually a very difficult task. There are techniques which will prove successful at certain times but not at others. A baseball manager has a very difficult job, since he must do it while also dealing with the details of the game itself. Leyland’s approach to motivation seems to be that constant re-enforcement it is futile.
The problem is that Tiger players have not responded to this approach. Do they see it as an invitation not to work as hard after the All-Star break? Do they maybe view it as apathy on the part of their manager? Whatever the case may be, five years of second half failure is proof that something is wrong with Leyland’s managerial style. Unfortunately he is probably not willing to adapt or change anything at this point in his 19-year career.
In early November the state of Michigan will be electing a new governor. Due to term limits, current governor Jennifer Granholm is not running again. This will leave the state with a new face of leadership in Lansing heading into 2011 and beyond. At this point the 2010 baseball postseason will have just wrapped up and more than likely without a Detroit appearance.
As us Tiger fans wait in line to cast our vote for governor, we may start wishing a five-year manager term limit applied to baseball. The second-half collapses we’ve had to watch can be directly attributed to team leadership. The manager has been given more than enough time to right the ship, but instead only wasted the valuable resources available to him.
Leyland deserves our highest respect for helping turn around a failing organization and he will never be forgotten. The 2006 season was one of the greatest in Detroit sports history and Leyland will always be remembered fondly for that. In spite of this, the Tigers must make a managerial change if they want to reach the next level of baseball success.
