When Dan Dickerson was interviewing AJ before the game, their discussion of how for the last 40+ games the Tigers had already been in “playoff mode” really fascinated me.
It reminded me of the first Karate Kid movie where the youngster is learning all the moves by washing the car, which will be put to use for a higher purpose later on.
Here it was facing every game as if it were do or die — which it was — and making strategic changes as if there were no tomorrow in a fearless but calculated manner, then doing it again and again day after day and inculcating this pattern as a part of the ingrained muscle memory of the team.
This is really a beautiful season for many reasons, but this is one of them.