🔥 Baseball's hottest team

TGIF!

• ☕ National Coffee Day is Sunday and we've gathered a list of free coffee and other deals to take advantage of.

☁️ Today's weather: Mostly cloudy, with a high near 75. Not a bad day for some baseball!

🎂 Happy birthday to our Axios Detroit member Haydn Kramer!

Today's newsletter is 878 words — a 3.5 minute read. Edited by Delano Massey.

Are you ready for some playoff baseball?

• The Tigers are one win away from clinching their first playoff appearance since 2014.

Why it matters: Baseball has a special place in Detroit.

• Fans of all ages have memories of fall baseball — from World Series titles in 1968 and 1984 to the Miguel Cabrera- and Justin Verlander-led teams of the 2010s.

The latest: Detroit won its fifth straight yesterday, beating the Tampa Bay Rays 4-3 at Comerica Park.

• The Tigers' magic number is down to one, which means they make the playoffs with either one more win or one more loss by the Minnesota Twins.

Between the lines: "Nobody believed in us" may be a clichéd rallying cry, but there is some truth to that mantra for this team of scrappy young players and castoffs.

Flashback: The Tigers were sellers at the midseason trade deadline while contending teams acquired new players to bolster their rosters.

• In mid-August, they had just a 0.2% chance to make the playoffs, per FanGraphs.

What's next: Detroit's final three games are today, tomorrow and Sunday at Comerica Park against the Chicago White Sox, a historically bad team.

• Today's first pitch is at 6:40pm.

📣 What we're watching: Just how loud Comerica Park gets against Chicago.

• The Tigers' fan base is a sleeping giant that's already awoken; more than 32,000 attended Wednesday's game.
• ​​"I know we have to earn it, and we're continuing to chip away at that, but this place can be electrifying if we can bring a postseason game here," manager A.J. Hinch told the Free Press.

Yes, but: Detroit would likely have to advance from the first round of the playoffs to host a playoff game, the Detroit News reports.

• The first wild-card series would be three games at Houston or Baltimore, with none at home.

The bottom line: It's a fun time to be a Detroit sports fan.

It may be small, but it's incredibly destructive.

The big picture: State officials are requesting Michigan residents take a look this season at the trees in their yards and around them to ensure none of the invasive Asian long-horned beetles have made it here.

State of play: The beetle known for boring into wood and killing trees hasn't been found in the Mitten State yet, but if it were, it could cause widespread harm.

• Michigan has a billion maple trees that are important for timber, ecology and maple syrup production, according to the state, and these beetles adore maple trees.
• With fall colors on the way, people will already be paying attention to maples — making this a perfect time to check, says Deborah McCullough, MSU professor of forest entomology.

How it works: Signs of infestation to look for include round pencil-sized holes in tree trunks or branches, dead branches on healthy trees, wood shaving piles at the foot of trees and shallow, round scars in the trees' bark.

Between the lines: If they are discovered, USDA officials would come in, working with the state, and cut down and destroy all infested and nearby trees. It's a tough process, but important to protect the wider tree population, McCullough says.

• They were first found in Brooklyn in the 1990s and have been found in Ohio, but not in Michigan, as they don't disperse over long distances.

What they're saying: "If we have it, it's going to be really important to catch it early," McCullough says.

Share this story

🏛️ Former Detroit Riverfront Conservancy CFO William Smith was arraigned in federal court yesterday. A plea hearing was scheduled for Oct. 21, at which he is expected to plead guilty to charges related to an alleged $40 million embezzlement scheme.

• Smith, dressed in a dark gray suit, ignored questions from reporters outside the court. His lawyer declined to comment. (Detroit News)

🏈 Lions center Frank Ragnow will miss Monday's game against the Seattle Seahawks with a partially torn pectoral muscle. (Free Press)

🎹 Billy Joel and special guest Stevie Nicks will perform at Ford Field on March 29. Tickets go on sale Oct. 4. (Detroit News)

🌹 Former Piston Derrick Rose announced his retirement from the NBA yesterday. (Axios Chicago)

David Burritt sees advancements of Michigan's auto industry through the U. S. Steel-Nippon Steel merger.

The impact: "This strategic alliance can boost local economies and jobs, fueled by steel mined, melted and made in America," Burritt emphasized.

Learn more.

With fall upon us, we asked you this week about your strategies to handle all the leaves.

Our readers had some hacks worth sharing:

Paul: "I just put the lawn mower in 'mulch mode' and grind them up when they are dry. No more raking, bagging, dragging them to the curb, etc."

Kelly: "On the lawn, we mulch them with the mower, providing natural fertilizer. Where the leaves have fallen too heavily to mulch, they are raked or blown into the flower beds and more naturalized areas of the yard. There, they offer winter cover for plants, small animals and pollinators."

BJ: "Why spend all of that time/effort just to deprive the soil of all those free nutrients? Winter weather in southeast Michigan stays warm enough to allow for decomposition by spring. I have a neighbor that spends 30 minutes a couple of times a week running a leaf blower. It's driving me nuts."

💭 Joe's thought bubble: I have a neighbor who frequently points their leaf blower in my property's direction. I guess the leaves have to go somewhere, but it doesn't feel too neighborly to me.

The U. S. Steel-Nippon Steel merger aims to revolutionize automotive steel production, directly benefiting Detroit's auto industry.

The deets: This deal will help accelerate innovation in lightweight and EV-focused steels at U. S. Steel's Auto Research Center in Michigan.

Learn more.

Our picks:

🍂 Joe rates raking among his most enjoyable chores. There's nothing quite like admiring a freshly raked yard.

🗓️ Annalise is out of the office.