It shouldn't come as any surprise, but tickets to the Tigers' potential opening round playoff series, the first in five years, sold out in less than an hour Monday. Fans were quite aroused by a then nine-game winning streak that included a Brandon Inge walk-off home run Saturday. Also unsurprisingly, the Lions' Week 1 win at Tampa Bay garnered nearly three times the television ratings as the Tigers' 2-1 series-sweeping victory over the Twins. It was the Lions' best audience for an opening week since 2003, when Joey Harrington threw four touchdown passes, two of which rookie Charles Rogers caught in his NFL debut.
It's a good thing for fans the Tigers' potential clincher, Saturday against Oakland, will be broadcast on FOX after all. (Originally the game was scheduled to have no television coverage.) Hopefully they get it done that day, rather than holding out until Sunday, when the Lions host the Chiefs, which will be shown on CBS. Staggered start times mean there would be little head-to-head competition Sunday, but what would the ratings show if the Tigers happened to play on Sunday during the postseason?
Fans likely won't have to pick between their teams. The two wouldn't play on the same day until Game 4 of the World Series (Oct. 23, time TBA), if the Tigers were to make it that far. No games of either American League Divisional Series is scheduled for a Sunday and the one Sunday game of the ALCS (Oct. 9) is the week the Lions host the Bears in Monday Night Football.
(Tigers beat writer Matthew B. Mowery compiled fans' reactions to Tigers playoff ticket sales below.)