Times weren't always so tough in Detroit sports.
It has been a decade since the city last saw a team advance in the playoffs — when the Tigers beat the A's in the 2013 ALDS, after Justin Verlander threw eight shutout innings and struck out 10 in win-or-go-home Game 5. (No need to talk about what happened between Joaquin Benoit and David Ortiz one week later at Fenway Park.) The Tigers currently have baseball's longest postseason drought at eight years.
The Red Wings won a playoff series in 2013 as an underdog 7-seed over the 2-seed Anaheim Ducks; we also don't talk about what happened in the conference semifinals, which definitely was not a gut-wrenching Game 7 overtime loss to rival and 1-seed Chicago.