The World Is Yet Catch On To The Phenomenon That Is The Fake Tigers

Let me explain what this is for anyone confused by the TikTok. In 2014 as a freshman in college, I assembled a fake Detroit Tigers roster. It was very loosely based on my high school's baseball from 2013. Remember, I was not on the team but in the bleachers for every game. As time passed, I made amendments to the roster, ultimately creating the entire squad on MLB the show, which was challenging and quite time-consuming. There's a reason I dropped out of college. The Fake Tigers are my 3rd symphony, a testament to my weirdness. By the time I played out the entire season in 2018, it was a coping mechanism. The real Tigers were so godawful that I escaped into this Fake Tigers team. Now I figured by the time 2023 rolled around, the real Tigers would be respectable, but I've had yet to find such luck. Well, we're four games out of first. Maybe I shouldn't complain. But the Fake Tigers are in first place and remain the superior squad.

I never feel as bizarre as I do when talking about the fake Tigers. This is not a real baseball team. The names are made up. The results themselves are made up. I played most of the regular season games with a fake roster that I made on MLB The Show 17 back in college. The game scripts for the playoff games were written by yours truly, and I'll reveal those once we get to October. Some things need to be changed. I've adjusted some things over time to accommodate for rules changes. I've added injuries here and there throughout the season. There's a reason this team started 19-19 before calling a player's only meeting after a rough loss to Houston. Losing Clifton Armstrong and Billy Brooks for an extended period led to this team starting slow out of the gate, but they've started to heat up. I've tried a million times to figure out how to use Twitch, and if I ever do, I'd love to stream some games with this new team. I need things like Twitch explained to me like I'm a 5-year-old.

Pretty much everything I put out there to the world regarding my content I do in the hopes of entertaining people. If I start a video series and people aren't responsive to it, I stop doing it. The Fake Tigers are the one thing I make an exception about it. I've spent so many meaningless hours putting this season together. I know the backstory behind every one of these players to a point where if someone wanted to make a legitimate miniseries or write a book about this fake team, I'd be able to provide enough content to do it.

I'll continue tweeting and providing updates throughout the rest of the season. This team is in a damn pennant chase right now. They're finally getting healthy, and Maurice Romero is a legitimate MVP candidate. I have spreadsheets with the numbers and game results. The entire playoff run (assuming they have one) is buried deep in my notes somewhere, complete with the full roster of the opposing teams. I don't know what compelled me to write this other than that I have put an insane amount of effort into this nonsense over the last several years. People tell me all the time that I need to find a hobby. This is my hobby. I've created an entire fake universe. I just pray that this team, unlike many great Tiger teams of the past, actually finishes the job. They lost in the ALCS last year. They're coming back for everything this season.