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The Detroit Tigers came close, but finished in second place in the AL Central, ending up trailing the Minnesota Twins by a mere game. The Tigers had been in the lead for much of the season, but a struggle in the beginning of September opened the door for the Twins. The Tiger ended up finishing 86-77, going 51-30 at Comerica Park and 35-47 on the road.

The pitching staff held up pretty well over the course of the season, finishing 5th in the AL in ERA, but the team ERA hid the issues throughout the 2009 baseball schedule the starting pitching faced. Justin Verlander emerged as the undeniable ace with a 19-9 record and 3.45 ERA. Edwin Jackson was not much worse, with a 13-9 record and 3.62 ERA. Both pitchers had 20-plus quality starts. The rest of the rotation struggled. Rookie Rick Porcello had a typical rookie season. He may have posted a 3.96 ERA, but he only had 11 quality starts because of his struggle to stay in games beyond the fifth inning. A myriad of other starters tried to fill the last two rotation spots to no avail.

The bullpen was a little thin. Fu-Te Ni, Brandon Lyon, and Ryan Perry were good set up men, but Fernando Rodney managed to be a risk every time he went out for a save. He may have finished with 37 saves, but he also had an ERA of 4.40 and WHIP of 1.51.

The hitting got better as the season wore on, but did not do enough damage to cover for the struggling pitchers. First baseman Miguel Cabrera quietly set himself apart as one of the best hitters in baseball though. Cabrera hit .324, 34 home runs, and drove in 103 RBI. RF Magglio Ordonez managed to once again hit better than .300 and second baseman Placido Polanco was decent at the plate, hitting .285. The rest of the position players struggled mightily. Curtis Granderson hit 30 home runs and Brandon Inge hit 27, but their power seemed to be wasted with few people on base.

The 2010 MLB season could be a chance for a reprieve for a team that blew their chances and improbably lost the division lead with lackluster play down the schedule's last stretch. Detroit Tigers tickets are going to be something in 2010 at Comerica Park as the Tigers try and make up for one of baseball's worst blunders in this new century.