Curse of Señor Smoke

This sorta started as a joke, but, after doing some research, it's proved to possess some merit. Or... at least serve as an interesting coincidence.

The Detroit Tigers traded Juan Berenguer after the 1985 season. Juan played a season with the Giants and then signed with the Twins in early 1987 - that's when the curse began. The Tigers had an incredibly memorable season in 1987. For most of the 2nd half, they battled the Blue Jays for first place (and the best record in all of baseball). In a stroke of scheduling luck, the two teams ended their season with a 3-game series in Detroit. The Tigers had to win all three to win the division outright. They did just that, and they finished with an awesome 98-64 record.

Berenguer had a memorable season of his own with the Twins. Then dubbed Señor Smoke, the part-time starter went 8-1 with a 3.9 ERA. Along with a soon-to-be legendary cast of characters, the Twins won their division with a pedestrian 85-77 record. Few people (outside of Minnesota) gave the Twins much of a chance. The Tigers were a team of destiny. They captivated all of baseball with their dramatic pennant race that came down to Frank Tanana's complete game 1-0 shutout win on the final day! This was a team that made headlines. But the curse of Señor Smoke shattered the dream.

Once the playoffs began, things started going the Twins way. Starting with the venue. Despite winning 13 fewer games than the Tigers, the Twins earned home-field advantage due to the archaic "alternate-each-year" system (this system is no longer in place). Then the Twins bats caught fire. They shellacked the Tigers for 8 runs that first game, with Señor Smoke pitching 2.2 scoreless innings in relief.

The Twins took five games to dispatch the Tigers and then went on to win the whole shebang - earning the distinction of having the worst record (85-77) to ever win the World Series. That record now belongs to the 2006 St. Louis Cardinals, who won just 83 games (and, yes, also beat the Tigers).

Of course, the Twins proved to be much more than a one-year fluke. They won the Series again in 1991 and spawned a Hall of Famer in Kirby Puckett and countless All-Stars (Kent Hrbek, Jeff Reardon, Frank Viola, Gary Gaetti, Chuck Knoblauch, and so on). For the next two decades, the Twins were among the class of the American League, and their sheer domination of the Tigers continued unabated (save for the hiccup in '06). Since 1987, the Twins own a commanding 182-125 record against Detroit. Now, that includes both home-and-away. I'm downright scared to look at results of only the Metrodome games. Prior to 1987 ... prior to former Tiger Señor Smoke signing with the Twins, the Tigers' record against the Twins was a stellar 60-36 (going back to 1980).

This year, the trend continues. The Twins are 6-2 in games against Detroit. Remove the Tigers from their schedule, and they're a below .500 team (37-38). Next season, the Twins abandon the Metrodome for an outdoor stadium. That switch can't happen soon enough.

The Maggs Situation

"Anonymous" asked in an earlier post about the $18million kicker clause in Maggs' contract. This link explains it in fine detail, but the bottom line is that the Tigers will have to pay Maggs $18million next season if he starts 126 games or has 456 plate-appearances. To date, he has 283.

One more quick note about the Tigers... yeah, they really sucked on this road trip. Yet, they remain in first place after a pretty brutal schedule. They've played 34 home games versus 47 games on the road. If they can continue their dominance at Comerica, they might contend down the stretch. A six-game home stand starts tonight.