They need a backup catcher who can give Alex Avila a day off now and then, and let Victor Martinez become the full-time DH.

Miguel Cabrera will be at first for a while.

Injuries limited Carlos Guillen's playing time, and he may retire. Ramon Santiago, Ryan Raburn, and Danny Worth are more useful as utility players and pinch hitters than they would be as the regular second baseman. Will Rhymes isn't the answer.

Jhonny Peralta is the man at shortstop.

Brandon Inge, bless his heart, got some big hits and made some fine plays late in the season. But St. Peter wouldn't stay in the lineup for long if he hit .197. When the Tigers put him on waivers in July, there were no takers, and he's signed for next year. Donnie Kelly, another all purpose guy, is more valuable off the bench than as a regular. Wilson Betemit's gloves need to be taken away and burned.

Delmon Young's best position is DH. Andy Dirks is a situational guy, on a team sprinkled with them, who's best pinch-hitting and as the extra left-handed bat against a tough righty. Brennan Boesch needs to make a comeback after missing the last two months with an injured thumb. Magglio Ordonez' ankle hasn't healed, recurring pain kept him out of the ALCS, and he may retire. Austin Jackson hit .249 and struck out 181 times; that's not acceptable in the leadoff spot, but he's all the speed they have and he covers Comerica's deep center field.

Justin Verlander and Doug Fister at the front of the rotation, and Joaquin Benoit and Jose Valverde at the back of the bullpen, were great. Everyone else was inconsistent. Max Scherzer may never become more than a third starter. Rick Porcello has to

Epilogue - ALCS - Nelson Cruz's Performance

What do I think of his performance? The bleeper hit six bleeping home runs in six games off our pitching ... the bleeping Hall of Fame wanted his bleeping batting gloves after game three, that's what I think of his performance ... I know, I gave you an answer but it wasn't a good answer because I'm mad. How can you ask a question like that? What do I think of Nelson Cruz's performance ... bleep! Bleep bleep bleepity-bleep!

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Actually, they should consider themselves lucky to get as far as they did, with a lineup populated by guys named What, and I Don't Know, and I Don't Give A Darn -- him, a shortstop playing out of position. Mix and match at four positions all season. Revolving doors at second, third, and the outfield corners. Justin Verlander bought them one more day by going eight in game five to save the burned-out bullpen, but everyone in the second floor baseball bunker including Maggie's three nephews knew they were headed back to Arlington for a good, old-fashioned whipping. 

Home-field might have saved them. The assortment of marginal players they already put on the field made every small advantage seem enormous. Austin Strikeout then went 11 for 25 striking out in the leadoff spot, and  rest of them forgot what baseball bats were for until it was too late. Open at home, and JV and Fister, and Benoit and Valverde, may have carried them to at least a game seven. They finished one game short of a tie for the league's second-best record and a home opener. Which loss was it, then, that had them start the ALCS in Texas?  The one, late in September when, knowing what was at stake, Skipper Leyland started rookie Jacob Turner? (Predictably, he was knocked out early.) Any one of a succession of stumble-bumble losses in April, when they went 12 and 16? Some winnable game in mid-July, clanged and dropped and strikeouted away?

We will never know. Aaaah, the bittersweet mysteries that are so much a part of our national pastime --

Shut up, Ken Burns. Get out of my blog.. And take Roger Kahn with you. 

In the bunker, on this day after the Tigers season ended, there are a bunch of sore losers.

The cheerleaders, in print and on the air, all summer sold us this patched-together team as the one that was at last ready for the big October dance. We knew better. But we believed them. 

The baseball season is mercifully over.Who in August would have dreamed that we would be eager to get the Tigers out of the way so we could give the Lions (5-0 starting play today) our full attention? 

Maggie and I are going to show the world we share the Tigers' loss by watching football, all day. We will make pizza for the kids, eat what they don't finish, drink adult beverages, and send the little monsters outside to play when their short attention spans get the better of them. And this final sentence will represent the last time any of us thinks about baseball. At least until tomorrow morning.

Epilogue -- Division Series

The Tigers should consider themselves extremely fortunate to advance to the LCS.

On paper, the Yankees were the far better team. Yes, I know; the games aren't played on paper. But a Yankee hit here, a walk there, someone getting on base with the bases loaded, a hit batter, a dinker off Fernando Valverde, and today the Tigers would be headed to their respective off-season homes. 

Papa Shut 'Em Down, with a four run lead to protect in Game Two, gave up two runs, on two hits and two walks. In Game Three, with a one run lead, he walked two. For all this, he gets two saves and a hero's welcome next time he takes the Comerica mound. Against the Rangers, he might not be so lucky.

Billy Beane loved Nick Swisher, and wanted to draft him so bad because (points at Pete) "he gets on base."

In Game Five, with the Yankees down 3-2 in the seventh, sacks filled on three singles, two of which never left the infield, the mighty Casey struck out.

Although two innings remained; six outs with which to work some magic, the fan sensed the Yankees were through.

In the ninth, Valverde retired them in order; the last out being Alex Rodriguez, the best player who ever put on pinstripes (swinging strike three). The only team that matters, playing in the greatest city in America -- no other comes close -- in their billion dollar baseball palace, would not be playing for a 28th consecutive world championship. 

HAHAHA YANKEES !!! (The fan loves that classic Jeterian facial expression, the one El Capitan wears when the Yankees are again eliminated from post season; that of a little boy who's just been told there's no Santa Claus.)

For the Tigers, there are several unlikely series MVPs. Delmon Young, who hit three homers. Magglio Ordonez, who went 5 for 11. Governor Inge, who went 3 for 7 and made all the plays at third. Donnie Kelly, who started Game Five and homered, made some fine plays at third and in the outfield, and led the Tigers with six hits. 

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An elimination game is always someone's last game, and in this one, the guy might be Jorge Posada.

2011 was Posada's fifteenth full season with the Yankees. He and Mariano Rivera closing out games became a symbol of recent Yankee success.

Injuries limited him to 115 games this season, most of them as the designated hitter. He hit .235 with 14 homers. His foot speed and mobility behind the plate have faded.

Will there be room on the opening day roster next spring for a forty year old part-time DH who can't run?

Even the Yankee haters in the second floor baseball bunker hope there is. 

Over those fifteen seasons, Jorge Posada has represented what, in these unsentimental times, is still called Yankee class. Play the game hard, and right, and stay out of trouble. Be a winner in ways the standings don't reflect. 

We look forward to hearing "Jorgie juiced one!" a few more times in 2012, in games against teams chasing the Tigers.

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The Comerica Fan Experience: Maggie's company leased a suite, but we passed, on Game Two, the most nail-biting of Valverde's three saves. The beer truck driver would come by, we figured, take away our good, honest beer, and hand it out in the cheap seats where everyone knows the score, and who's pitching. And because the place is so loud. The fans, they're expected to make noise; but why does everything -- the PA, the between innings music, the crap between pitches -- have to be so LOUD?

Oh well ... it's the young people's world now. We just live in it.