There are still five weeks left in the season, more than a month of more losses to go, but the story of this year’s Detroit Tigers has already been written.
It began in spring training, with a new sheriff in Tigertown. That sheriff, Ron Gardenhire, brought his deputies with him. They knew the task in front of them, the difficulties they faced — they’d been through it before with the Twins — and they knew that the first step was changing the clubhouse's culture.
Future success, no matter how far down the road, would begin there, despite knowing that many of those players would not be around when the roar at Comerica Park is restored.