For a while, there was no other city in the entire country that produced sports champions like it. At one point in the middle of that decade, the Lions, Red Wings, and the Tigers were all defending champions and the city remains the only one to have teams winning three major sports championships in the same year. The Pistons came along a little later but soon got into the title-winning business.
It is fair to say that Detroit has celebrated more than its fair share of winners over the years. But it is also true that nothing seemed to be going right for many of our teams for much of the last quarter of a century. Things have started to change recently, however. Even the best online betting sites have been featuring our teams higher up the list of favorites.
Just recently, the Pistons won a postseason game for the first time in 17 years. That was the longest playoff drought in the NBA – at 15 games – and now all of our sports athletes will be feeling like another championship could be on its way to Detroit soon. Are we experiencing the beginning of a sports renaissance for our wonderful city?
The Lions Kickstart a Winning Feeling
Even the most hardened of Lions fans would probably have not had our city’s football team as the one to start a new era of winning. This is an organization that has never won a Super Bowl – or even made it to the championship game. There have been national titles celebrated in the pre-Super Bowl era, but the Lions are not one of the NFL’s powerhouse teams historically.
Even the resurgence has been something of a surprise. No one expected the Lions to do much in 2023, aside from hopefully posting another winning season and improving steadily. Instead, Jared Goff led the team to a divisional title for the first time since 1993 and a postseason run that only ended in the NFC Championship game.
After doing even better last year and claiming the number one place in the NFC, the divisional playoff loss to the Commanders was a huge disappointment. But the Lions are now considered a potential championship-winning team and the fans eagerly await the new year of play starting in the Fall.
Tigers End a Drought of Their Own
The Tigers have a little more of a championship-winning history to look back on. There were regular World Series battles in the 1930s and 40s, and then more of a gap before – and between – the last two championships in 1968 and 1984. Since then, there hasn’t been a lot of baseball played in this city after the end of the regular season.
But another Detroit sports drought ended last year when the Tigers made it through to the postseason and played two series. It was the first trip to the playoffs for 10 years and the first time the Tigers had won a series for 11 seasons. Thanks to the modern wild card spots, Detroit was able to beat Houston, before narrowly going down in the ALDS to the Cleveland Indians.
Beginning this year with a series in California against the Dodgers was always going to be difficult but now the Tigers have steadied themselves and look good near the top of the AL Central. It is early days, but there is no reason why the Tigers can’t challenge for a divisional title this year and maybe even forge further inroads into the postseason.
There is Always an Exception to Every Rule
When we suggested that Detroit was possibly experiencing a new period in the sun for its sports teams, we meant in an overall capacity, of course. There is always an exception to every rule and unfortunately, the Red Wings are proving that old adage quite convincingly. Nothing seems to be going right for the team right now.
To be fair to the Red Wings, this was a sports team that was winning championships when every other Detroit team seemed to have just about given up. For a while in the 1990s and 2000s, the Red Wings were a regular fixture at the Stanley Cup finals. They are undoubtedly the most successful team in the city.
There was hope that the Red Wings might make the playoffs for the first time in nine years this season. A New Year bump got everyone very excited. But then there was a slump in March and other teams in similar positions kicked on. There is hope for the future but making it back to the postseason still seems a tough task.
Pistons Resurgence
Let’s finish on a high note, shall we? The NBA postseason is underway and there is still a long way to go in the first-round playoff series with the Knicks for the Pistons, at the time of writing. But winning an actual game for the first time in a generation is something that every Detroiter has to be happy about.
There have only been two winning seasons since 2008, so Pistons fans have not had a lot to shout about in recent times. We are trying not to get ahead of ourselves but this young group of athletes could provide Detroit with some of its most memorable sports occasions of the next few years.
Going from the worst team in the league to the postseason is a huge step up and newcomers like Malik Beasley have transformed the Pistons. This year may well still end in disappointment (hopefully later, rather than sooner) but the team is an excellent example of how much better it is to be a fan of Detroit sports right now.
