The Tigers had bottomed out in 2003, losing an AL record 119 games. But in just 3 years, under manager Jim Leyland, they had bounced back. On August 7, they beat the Minnesota Twins, and led the AL Central Division by 10 games. But they lost their next 5 games, 16 of their next 22, and 31 of their last 50, getting surpassed by the Twins on the last day of the regular season.
Unlike some other teams that had blown 1st place, the 2006 Tigers had a Wild Card Playoff berth available to them. They then embarrassed the Yankees in the AL Division Series, while the A's shocked the Twins. This set up the Tigers-A's ALCS, and the Tigers won it in 4 straight, ending with a bang from Ordóñez.
The only season to date in which Oakland has won a postseason series with Billy Beane as general manager comes to an ignominious end. In 25 seasons, they have never won an ALCS game. Someone tell me again that Beane is a "genius."
Despite having had such heavy hitters as Ty Cobb, Sam Crawford, Harry Heilmann, Goose Goslin, Charlie Gehringer, Hank Greenberg, Rudy York, Al Kaline, Norm Cash, Rocky Colavito, Willie Horton, Kirk Gibson, Lance Parrish and Cecil Fielder, this is the 1st postseason walkoff homer in the Tigers' 106-year history. It remains the only one in their now 122-year history.
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October 14, 2006 was a Saturday. Game 3 was played in the National League Championship Series. The St. Louis Cardinals beat the New York Mets, 5-0 at the new Busch Stadium in St. Louis. Jeff Suppan not only pitched 8 innings of 3-hit shutout ball, he hit a home run, as the Cards scored 2 runs in the 1st inning and 3 in the 2nd, and buried the Mets early.
The series went to the last inning of the last game, and the Cardinals won. Most baseball fans expected the Cardinals to be physically and mentally exhausted as the 2006 World Series got underway on October 21, since they'd had only 1 day off, while the Tigers would be full-rested with 6 days off. As it turned out, it was the other way around: The Cards were mentally prepared, and the Tigers grew stale in waiting, and the Cards won in 5 games.
The NBA season started 17 days later. There were 4 games played in the NHL:
* The Carolina Hurricanes beat the Atlanta Thrashers, 4-3 at the Philips Arena (now the State Farm Arena) in Atlanta.
* The Florida Panthers beat their arch-rivals, the Tampa Bay Lightning, 3-2 at the BankAtlantic Center (now the Amerant Bank Arena) in the Miami suburb of Sunrise, Florida.
* The Buffalo Sabres beat the Detroit Red Wings, 3-2 in a shootout at the Joe Louis Arena.
* And the San Jose Sharks beat the Vancouver Canucks, 6-4 at General Motors Place (now the Rogers Arena) in Vancouver.
And there were college football games that day, including the following:
* Number 1 Ohio State beat Michigan State, 38-7 at Spartan Stadium in East Lansing, Michigan.
* Number 2 Florida were upset by Number 11 Auburn, 27-17 at Jordan-Hare Stadium in Auburn, Alabama. This would be the only game that Florida would lose all season. They beat Arkansas in the Southeastern Conference Championship Game, and went on to the BCS National Championship Game. Auburn went on to beat Nebraska in the Cotton Bowl.
* Number 3 Southern California beat Arizona State, 28-21 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. USC went on to win the Pacific-Ten title.
* Number 4 Michigan beat Penn State, 17-10 at Beaver Stadium in State College, Pennsylvania. Ohio Stadium beat Michigan in a Number 1 vs. Number 2 matchup for the Big Ten title, but since Ohio State came out of the game still Number 1, they went to the BCS National Championship Game, while Michigan, despite finishing 2nd in the Big Ten, went to the Rose Bowl, anyway. They lost to USC. In the National Championship Game, Ohio State lost to Florida, who were thus awarded the National Championship.
* Number 5 West Virginia beat Syracuse, 41-17. West Virginia blew their shot at the Big East Conference title by losing to Louisville, and went on to beat Georgia Tech in the Gator Bowl in Jacksonville.
* Number 7 Louisville beat Cincinnati, 23-17 at Cardinal Stadium in Louisville. Louisville won the Big East title, and beat Wake Forest in the Orange Bowl.
* Number 10 California beat Washington State, 21-3 at Martin Stadium in Pullman, Washington. Cal went on to beat Texas A&M in the Holiday Bowl in San Diego.
* Number 15 Iowa were upset by Indiana, 31-28 at Memorial Stadium in Bloomington, Indiana. Number 16 Georgia were upset by Vanderbilt, 24-22 at Sanford Stadium in Athens, Georgia. And Number 19 Missouri were upset by Texas A&M, 25-19 at Kyle Field in College Station, Texas.
* Among the service academies, Army lost to Connecticut, 21-7 at Rentschler Field in East Hartford, Connecticut; and Navy lost to Number 24 Rutgers, 34-0 at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in Annapolis, Maryland. Two nights earlier, Air Force beat Colorado State, 24-21 at Falcon Stadium in Colorado Springs.
Rutgers upset then-Number 2 Louisville, but blew the Big East title by losing to Cincinnati and West Virginia, and ended up in the Texas Bowl in Houston, where they beat Kansas State -- the 1st bowl game win in school history.
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