DETROIT — For so much of the season, the Tigers underachieved, fell far below the expectations. The team that was supposed to win the AL Central by a wider margin than all other divisions combined, needed a finishing kick, winning 14 of their final 21 games to clinch the division in the final series.
Guys who were supposed to duplicate the success of the previous season — Alex Avila, Brennan Boesch, Jhonny Peralta, Ryan Raburn — simply did not. And one other name surfaced in that group: Doug Fister.
Fister, who will start Game 2 of the ALDS against Oakland Sunday facing A's lefty Tommy Milone, was marred by injuries. But he returned and had a huge impact on the Tigers fortunes late. The 6-foot-8 righty, acquired at the 2011 trade deadline, was impeccable for Detroit down the stretch that season. And he was nearly the same this time after fully healing from left side strains that twice floored him — first from April 8 to May 7 then from May 29 to June 16.
"It's just a matter of there's been some ups and downs and trying to continually fine tune and take the steps in the right direction that I need to and keeping consistent," Fister said, before the Tigers' 3-1 victory in Game 1 Saturday. "Coming into spring training, every year my mentality is I'm going to try to be as consistent as possible every day. And unfortunately this year I've had some injuries that have kept me out. … So just trying to stay, number one, healthy, and stay, two, with my guns, stay with what I do best and not to waver from this."
Fister, who beat the Yankees in the decisive Game 5 of last season's first round, went 8-4 with a 2.67 average after the All-Star break, establishing a new AL record with nine straight strikeouts on Sept. 27, against Kansas City. It wasn't quite the 8-1 lights out showing he delivered in 2011 following his acquisition from Seattle, but it was good enough.
"I would have to say it's different because what he did last year was kind of unexpected," manager Jim Leyland said of his righty, who — with Justin Verlander, Max Scherzer and Anibal Sanchez — forms perhaps the playoff's most lethal rotation. "And this year, maybe some more was expected. So I think there's a difference. Last year it was like a bolt of lightning what he did. This year it was more like the old shoe. He's comfortable here. Now we're comfortable with himAnd we expect good things."
Though Fister set the consecutive strikeout record, Verlander, the Game 1 starter, and Scherzer, the Game 4 choice, are the power guys, each surpassing 200 strikeouts — Verlander's 239 led the AL, while Scherzer was second with 231. Fister is more finesse but with his height, his curve drops out of the clouds and his control is usually impeccable.
"The most important thing for me, is really to just stick to my guns, stick to my game," Fister said. "For me, it's a matter of when I say I'm going with feel, it's that intuitiveness that you have, that feeling inside that you have the confidence in what you want to throw."
fred.kerber@nypost.com
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