Week One & the Beginning

The first week of the season is often spent out west so we begin the year in the warm weather. The Tigers season began rolling in the same manner, three games in Los Angeles and three games in San Diego before traveling home. While LA competed with Boston for the American League title last season, SD lost an amazing 111 games. They were terrible and didn't improve much in the off season.

The games against LA were fun, with Rodney Hobbs leading the way and the pitchers throwing zeros at the Royals. The three games in SD were all shut outs and Toledo scored 42 times in the series. The Tigers headed back east with a 6–0 record and four shut outs. Each team in each league plays the other teams in the league 25 times. If you're having a rough year, your record can really show that.

"We're looking forward to getting back east, but this was a valuable trip," commented the manager, Bob Maxwell. "The team is playing well and we're looking all right. I like the arms right now."

New York and Boston would visit before Toledo would head to Milwaukee and Detroit. The first month is a warm up month when the teams face each other. Toledo's schedule, for the most part, would start in the west, head home, head nearby, then east, home, west. All teams followed a similar pattern. This would be the final year of this pattern, though, as next year expansion occurs. It will be interesting.

The Boston Barons are moving to Houston, but a team will be located in Boston. Arlington/Dallas Texas will gain a team as will the San Francisco area. Three teams coming on board at once will reek havoc on the schedule, but the schedule makers will do their best to make it fair.

"What's fun is this will be the last year that the league champion automatically gets into the Series. You actually have to play a playoff to determine who's going to get into the Series starting in '79," commented Maxwell. "This is a historical season."

New York and Boston both didn't know what hit them when they arrived in Toledo. This was the Tiger team that ended the season last year, not a young kitten like many predicted.