Lakeland, Fla. — His office at TigerTown looks out on the expanse of Joker Marchant Stadium and Christopher Ilitch likes to steal away a few minutes and watch his baseball team go through its pregame preparation. He likes to come down the field and stand behind the cage during batting practice, shooting the breeze with general manager Al Avila or with manager Ron Gardenhire or whoever else is around.
He was in the manager’s office Friday morning, playfully, at Gardenhire’s urging, asking Avila if there was a chance he’d see prospect Riley Greene in the game.