The Tigers won their first pennant in 1907 and repeated twice. The club failed to win a World Series during those three straight years, and continued to play good baseball for the couple of years that followed before falling into the middle of the standings for two decades.

Those clubs could not bring home a pennant, but produced offensive shows. The Tigers returned to contention briefly in 1915 with over a hundred victories in the season, but finished second in the standings. Over the next few years Cobb was surrounded with great offensive players like Harry Heilmann and Bobby Veach, but the team lacked the pitching to win consistently.

Detroit finally went back to the playoffs in the 1903s with Mickey Cochrane as catcher, Hank Greenburg at first, and Charlie Gerhinger at second. The Tigers won over 100 games for the second time in the franchises history in 1934, taking home their first of two straight pennants. The first World Series victory for the franchise came in the second pennant with a 4-2 game defeat of the Chicago Cubs.

The victory marked an important moment for the Tigers, but the club fell to second the next two seasons before falling to the middle again. A pennant in 1940 broke the monotony of the middle, but a World Series loss to the Cincinnati Reds was followed by a five year hiatus from the playoffs.

The 1945 season marked the end of World War II and the return of many of the greats to baseball. The Detroit Tigers got back Hank Greenburg, their power hitting first baseman and had a starting rotation with Virgil Trucks, Hal Newhouser, and Dizzy Trout (also known as TNT). Detroit went 88-65 and faced the Chicago Cubs for the fourth time in the World Series. Greenburg and the Tigers bats were too much for the Cubs, as they took the series in seven games.

Detroit again followed the extremely successful season with the descent into the middle of the league. The Tigers were slow to change with the times, not picking up an African-American player until the late ‘50s. The team still had a talented outfielder in Al Kaline, but the rest of the roster was not enough to compete in the American League while the Yankees dominated almost every single year.

The Tigers did rebuild eventually, and built a team around Ozzie Virgil, Sr. and Norm Cash. The club posted 101 victories in 1961, but still only managed to finish second in the American League Standings to the Yankees. Detroit assembled a winning team with Willie Horton, Earl Wilson, and Gates Brown.

The season before their return to the World Series the Tigers became involved in a three pennant race that went to the last day and a double header with the Angels. Detroit split the games and finished third with a 91-71 record. The next season the team’s nucleus returned and finished 103-59, the Tigers’ fourth season with more than 100 wins.

Pitcher Denny McLain was the AL MVP and Cy Young winner with a 31-6 record and the Tigers rode his arm to a World Series against the St. Louis Cardinals. The series was supposed to feature a battle of the power pitchers with McLain and the Cards Bob Gibson, but instead Mickey Lolich delivered victories in game 2 and 5 and was named World Series MVP for the victorious Tigers.

Realignment of the American League into two divisions put the Tigers in the East the year following their World Series victory. Detroit continued to compete, but failed to take the division, losing to a Baltimore Orioles team that won 109 games. The Tigers returned to the playoffs three years late in 1972, taking the division in a strike shortened season and played the Oakland A’s in the American League Championship Series. The A’s lost the best of five series and began a decline that lasted over a decade.

The Tigers started to come out of the funk in 1979 with the hiring of Sparky Anderson as manager. His 17 years as manager produced an incredible run of great teams in the ‘80s. The best of those Detroit clubs came in 1984. The Tigers won 104 games behind the pitching of Jack Morris and Willie Hernandez and the offensive prowess of Alan Trammell, Lou Whitaker, Darrell Evans, Dave Bergman, Kirk Gibson, and Chet Lemon. Hernandez’ standout season earned him the AL Cy Young Award and MVP.

The Tigers easily defeated the Royals in the American League Championship Series and faced the San Diego Padres in the World Series. Detroit then beat the Padres I similar fashion, winning 4 games to 1. The Tigers continued to be a good team, but had to wait until 1987 before returning to the post season. Detroit won the AL East, but could not defeat the Twins, who took the ALCS 3 games to 2.

The Tigers slowly began a decline that saw them end up in the basement of the American League Central with season loss totals of over a hundred games in 2002 and 2003. Detroit returned to contention, finally finding the right mix of pitching and hitting with Kenny Rogers, Jeremy Bonderman, Justin Verlander, and Joel Zumaya on the mound and Magglio Ordonez, Carlos Guillen, and Miguel Cabrera at the plate.

The club took second in the tough American League Central in 2006 and 2007, taking the Wild Card spot for their first playoff appearance in 19 years in 2006.