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Detroit Tigers

Overall: 49

Title track: T45

Ownership: 28

Coaching: T106

Players: 53

Fan relations: 44

Affordability: 45

Stadium experience: 32

Bang for the buck: 59

Change from last year: -3

We're now 11 seasons into what we would argue is the greatest period of sustained excellence in Tigers history, a period that includes five trips to the postseason, two appearances in the World Series and just two losing seasons. Only five franchises in baseball have won more games than the Tigers since 2006. But is their window closing?

What's good

Comerica Park is gorgeous, and its attendance hasn't slipped below 2.4 million in a season since 2006, so it's no surprise that one of the Tigers' best rankings comes in stadium experience (32nd overall). This is still a team with star power on the field -- Justin Verlander, Miguel Cabrera, Victor Martinez, Ian Kinsler, Justin Upton -- and that constellation is complemented by a group of younger players who could be the stars of the next generation, from J.D. Martinez to Nick Castellanos to Michael Fulmer. Meanwhile, off the field, the Tigers have a powerful combination of committed ownership (fans appreciate that 87-year-old Mike Ilitch is still passionately pushing his team to win and ranked him 28th in ownership), rabid fan base and sizable market, which gives them a strong financial advantage in a division in which none of their competitors can match them.

What's bad

Fans are clearly unsure about the job manager Brad Ausmus is doing; he ranked just 106th in coaching after a second straight year missing the playoffs. His roster for next year is uncertain: For the first time in the free-agent era, the Tigers ended this season with a higher payroll than the Yankees, and many competitors believe this team doesn't have the revenue to sustain a $200 million roster. Don't rule out a massive deal, especially when you start counting how much money is tied up in the Tigers' aging core. In a sport that's trending younger every year, bringing back all the stars could be a formula for the same sort of implosion that brought down the mini-dynasty of the Phillies just a few years ago.

What's new

Detroit climbed 15 spots in fan relations in 2016, thanks in part to kid-friendly events (kids run the bases every Sunday!) and promotions (Coloring books! Growth charts! A piggy bank!). That's especially fitting because the Tigers' future is largely in the hands of their young pitchers: Michael Fulmer is 23, the likely rookie of the year and a future ace. Daniel Norris is a 23-year-old left-hander with a bright future. Matt Boyd is 25, with a dazzling feel for pitching. When we say it's been a long, long, long, long time since any Tigers team has had three young starters such as that, we aren't kidding. You have to go back more than a half-century, to 1965, to find the most recent Tigers team before the 2016 edition that had three starting pitchers, age 25 or younger, who made at least 10 starts apiece and all had winning records.

Next: Arizona Diamondbacks | Full rankings