Lakeland, Fla. — So you implode the aging team that is now obsolete and needs to be trucked away in pieces, much like the old Hudson’s store disappeared 20 years ago from downtown Detroit’s skyline. You know it will take five years, anyway, to build a towering new contender people will see as dramatic and impressive — as baseball’s version of a national landmark.
The problem is locals want a makeover. Now. This year. By Opening Day, if you don’t mind.
Al Avila gets it. No one wants to wait for Comerica Park’s magic to reappear along with those regular dalliances with the playoffs the Tigers kept alive for nearly a decade.