Tigers Flip the Script: Revenge Served in Cleveland

They say the best revenge is massive success, and it’s best served cold.

Well, the Detroit Tigers served theirs on a frosty plate in Cleveland Thursday, avenging last year’s heartbreak with a 6-3 win over the Guardians in Game 3 of the AL Wild Card series.

And man, if you’ve been riding this Detroit rollercoaster all season, you know this one just hit different.

Because let’s keep it a buck — just a couple weeks ago, these same Tigers were looking funny in the light. A team that once held a 15.5 game lead in the AL Central somehow coughed it up like a bad cold and watched the Guardians snatch the division crown on the last day of the season.

Talk about embarrassing. That was collapse-dot-com.

But baseball is cruel, and it’s also forgiving.

Enter Dillon Dingler.

Dingler came into the postseason ice cold — 0-for-9 cold.

But in the sixth inning, with the score tied 1-1 and Cleveland starter Erik Sabrowski throwing a little too comfortable, Dingler said, “enough.”

He caught a changeup up in the zone and launched it to the cheap seats in left.

Boom.

Just like that, Tigers up. Just like that, the floodgates opened.

One swing flipped the series. One swing woke up the bats. One swing carried the Tigers from life support to the ALDS.

And don’t get it twisted — this wasn’t just about Dingler. This was about a squad that’s been counted out, clowned for choking away the division, and written off after a September slump that had fans side-eyeing the whole front office.

But somehow, someway, these dudes found the guts to go win on the road in Cleveland and keep the season alive.

So here we are. Tigers moving on. Guardians going home. Cinderella slippers left at the gate.

Next up? Seattle. A team that’s had their number in recent years. But with this kind of redemption energy, with this kind of fight, Detroit’s swaggering back into October like it’s the 80s all over again.

And let me tell you something: It just feels good to have Tigers baseball matter in October. It feels good to see the Lions in the hunt, the Pistons retooling, and the city buzzing like we’re on the verge of a sports renaissance.

We haven’t touched a World Series since 1984.

You know what that means.

Detroit … stand all the way up.

Let’s go.