Over the last few months we’ve been looking back at the top moments of the 2013 season. After every game, we run our recap called “How Was The Game?” which includes The Moment, or the defining event of that game. Here we’ve been looking back at the most memorable twenty moments. For your convenience, here they are in slideshow form. Just kidding, it’s a list, I’m not a monster.

20. Avila’s Grand Slam Off Strasburg

19. Cabrera Walks Off The Royals

18. Cabrera’s 3 HR Night

17. Avila’s HR in Cleveland

16. Sanchez Strikes Out 17

15. Pena Tags Swisher

14. Avila Homers in Houston

13. Verlander Duels Gray

12. Sanchez’s Near No-Hitter

11. VMart’s Circus Play

10. Porcello’s Complete Game

9. Cabrera Homers Off Salazar

8. The Iglesias Play

7. Scherzer Strikes Out Davis

6. Cabrera and VMart Off Rivera

5. Cabrera Off Rivera

4. Hunter Walks Off

3. Pena Tags Smoak

2. Scherzer in Relief

1. The Six Run Rally

For the next several weeks we’ll be rolling out our list of the best The Moment’s of 2013. The list is the product of winnowing down 173 moments from April to October into the best twenty. They vary in their importance but all captivated us in an important way. A few are silly, a few are excellent plays, and a few will travel down in Tigers lore. I hope you enjoy it.

#1 – The Rally

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No words. Just watch. Go Tigers.

How Was The Game? (September 21, 2013)

For the next several weeks we’ll be rolling out our list of the best The Moment’s of 2013. The list is the product of winnowing down 173 moments from April to October into the best twenty. They vary in their importance but all captivated us in an important way. A few are silly, a few are excellent plays, and a few will travel down in Tigers lore. I hope you enjoy it.

#2 – Scherzer in Relief

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I don’t need to tell you about this moment, but I will tell you about my experience watching it. I had to be in a seminar from 5-8pm. This game started at 4pm. I turned off my phone, DVR’d the game, and told everyone I know not to speak to me or text me under penalty of death. I got home and started watching about two and half hours late, so as I was watching the third inning, this whole thing was happening. I got a text message. I threw my phone across the room to avoid temptation. The text would later reading: “CLUTCH TO THE F-ING MAX.” My brother. I had a similar reaction when I saw it. Boy was it fun to catch up on Twitter after that one.

How Was The Game? (October 8, 2013)

For the next several weeks we’ll be rolling out our list of the best The Moment’s of 2013. The list is the product of winnowing down 173 moments from April to October into the best twenty. They vary in their importance but all captivated us in an important way. A few are silly, a few are excellent plays, and a few will travel down in Tigers lore. I hope you enjoy it.

#3 – Pena absorbs Smoak, Tigers win in 14

There’s a point during every season in which you fall in love with your team. That’s how I’ve always thought about it. Each year, you have to grow to love the particular character of that incarnation of the club and this is the game that did it for me in 2013. It was my birthday, the Tigers were out west, my wife had gone to bed because she “has a job,” and Scherzer was facing Felix. It was a pitchers’ duel for the ages (my favorite type of game) and the defining play came with a perfectly executed relay throw from Hunter to Fielder to Pena who caught the ball up the line and absorb eda huge blow from Smoak. I’m no fan of collisions at the plate, but this was unavoidable based on where the throw was. Smoak had nowhere to go and Pena took the brunt of it, held on, and the Tigers won a thriller at 3am back east. I stumbled around in a daze the next day and a started a post called “Pena, Scherzer, and Falling in Love” that I never ran. Nothing needed to be said, and it still doesn’t.

How Was The Game? (April 17, 2013)

For the next several weeks we’ll be rolling out our list of the best The Moment’s of 2013. The list is the product of winnowing down 173 moments from April to October into the best twenty. They vary in their importance but all captivated us in an important way. A few are silly, a few are excellent plays, and a few will travel down in Tigers lore. I hope you enjoy it.

#4 – Torii Hunter Walks Off

In a rare turn during the 2013 campaign, Max Scherzer was rocky on this afternoon. The Tigers were down 6-3 heading into the ninth inning with Grant Balfour coming on and the author had just gotten on the bus to go to his “real job.” With At Bat fully engaged on my phone, I watched as:

• Jackson walked
• Dirks popped out
• Avila struck out
• Fielder walked
• Martinez singled

The Tigers were down 6-4 with two on and two out. And then Hunter launched one to left center. For some reason, the people on the bus didn’t share my enthusiasm as I was shocked to learn their phones were not tuned into the Tigers/A’s game in Chapel Hill, NC.

How Was The Game? (August 29, 2013)

For the next several weeks we’ll be rolling out our list of the best The Moment’s of 2013. The list is the product of winnowing down 173 moments from April to October into the best twenty. They vary in their importance but all captivated us in an important way. A few are silly, a few are excellent plays, and a few will travel down in Tigers lore. I hope you enjoy it.

#5 – Cabrera Homers Off Rivera

The Tigers had won 12 straight games and had put the division to bed. They looked invincible, but the Yanks took a 3-1 lead and had two outs and two strikes with the best relief pitcher in history on the mound. The streak was dead – until it wasn’t. A cutter that caught too much plate on the inner half found its way into the netting in centerfield courtesy of Miguel Cabrera. It was an electric, “no one can touch us” moment. Amazingly, the zombie Tigers lost the game in the 10th inning, but that doesn’t change the way it felt to watch the Tigers rally back again in such dramatic fashion at the tail end of the streak that defined the season.

How Was The Game? (August 9, 2013)

For the next several weeks we’ll be rolling out our list of the best The Moment’s of 2013. The list is the product of winnowing down 173 moments from April to October into the best twenty. They vary in their importance but all captivated us in an important way. A few are silly, a few are excellent plays, and a few will travel down in Tigers lore. I hope you enjoy it.

#6 – Miggy and VMart Homer Off Rivera in the Ninth

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So here’s the thing. Two days earlier, Miguel Cabrera hit a massive, game-tying blast to slay Mariano Rivera. It was a Friday night and Comerica Park South (my apartment) went nuts. Then Cabrera and VMart participated in another ambush on Sunday afternoon of the same Hall of Fame reliever. The entire series was ridiculous for many reasons including the Tigers amazing ability to lose both games and basically everything Miguel Cabrera did. I don’t need to set the stage for you. You lived it. There’s video. It was awesome. And you won’t be waiting long for Friday night swing.

How Was The Game? (August 11, 2013)

For the next several weeks we’ll be rolling out our list of the best The Moment’s of 2013. The list is the product of winnowing down 173 moments from April to October into the best twenty. They vary in their importance but all captivated us in an important way. A few are silly, a few are excellent plays, and a few will travel down in Tigers lore. I hope you enjoy it.

#7 – Scherzer strikes out Chris Davis

This single GIF betrays the drama of the moment. It’s hard to describe it, because looking back it was just some game with the Tigers leading by two runs. They were nine games over .500 and stuff, but I can’t circle back to what made it so awesome. Chris Davis was CHRIS DAVIS at the time and Max was MAX, but the rest of it was just another game. It was a fine battle I suppose; a seven pitch at bat. Max went away with heat, got a called strike on a changeup away, and then got a swinging strike down the middle. He was ahead 1-2, went away twice to bring it to 3-2 and then Davis fouled off a changeup. Then this happened, the crowd went crazy, and the Tigers cruised. Maybe this was Scherzer’s national coming out party because it was “win” number 10. Maybe it was the eyes of the country on our star while facing the mighty Davis in a big spot. Whatever it was, it was something.

How Was The Game? (June 17, 2013)

For the next several weeks we’ll be rolling out our list of the best The Moment’s of 2013. The list is the product of winnowing down 173 moments from April to October into the best twenty. They vary in their importance but all captivated us in an important way. A few are silly, a few are excellent plays, and a few will travel down in Tigers lore. I hope you enjoy it.

#8 – The Iglesias Play

Losing your starting shortstop during a pennant chase is suboptimal, but Dave Dombrowski took it as a chance to find a new, long-term solution at the position. He went for defense. He traded Avi Garcia for Jose Iglesias. This was less than two weeks after the trade. You knew he was good already, but you didn’t quite appreciate it until you saw something like this. I’ve heard a scout say that Iglesias is what “an 80 glove looks like” and another say that he was “absolutely” better than Andrelton Simmons. Absolutely. Now the latter scout is in the minority, but when you hear that, you perk up your ears. Whatever, you don’t need me to keep typing, I’m just filling space so that this post is more aesthetically pleasing. I think I watched this play fifty times within 24 hours. Enjoy.

How Was The Game (August 12, 2013)

For the next several weeks we’ll be rolling out our list of the best The Moment’s of 2013. The list is the product of winnowing down 173 moments from April to October into the best twenty. They vary in their importance but all captivated us in an important way. A few are silly, a few are excellent plays, and a few will travel down in Tigers lore. I hope you enjoy it.

#9 – Cabrera homers off Salazar

You have to understand the context to really appreciate this particular moment. The Tigers had won ten straight and it looked like they could do no wrong. Then they ran into Danny Salazar, buzz-saw. Fister was solid, but Salazar was awesome. But awesome only gets you so far when the invincible Tigers sent their invincible man to the plate down a run with a man on base. You get the idea. The Tigers ended up allowing an equalizer, then Bonderman pitched well (!), and they rallied back. This whole game was crazy, and this moment in particular stood out.

How Was The Game? (August 7, 2013)