Dear r/baseball,
After a summer away from Ann Arbor, I’m back behind the desk of my university job that has been the backdrop for most of the articles I’ve written for M-SABR, the University of Michigan’s baseball analytics club. This one captures my feelings about baseball, sure, but more about the end of my college career.
What do we root for as Tiger fans right now? Why are we so quick to dismiss the guys playing this month who might be getting their last or only taste of MLB action? Don’t we love when the September call-ups get to play Major League Baseball while wearing number 78?
I went back in time and looked at the 1976 Tigers, who, for my money, were the most fun 74-win team in MLB history. I wanted to show why winning isn’t all that matters, and that the stories each season presents are what make our time well spent as baseball fans.
A special bonus for us Tiger fans, I think that season maps onto, at least somewhat, the feelings we’ve experienced in 2023.
[I’d appreciate if you checked it out here.](https://msabr.com/2023/09/14/the-1976-detroit-tigers-or-learning-to-love-a-lost-season/)