<body><div><figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=3U8CVA_0w32r2wW00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=3U8CVA_0w32r2wW00" width="768" height="432" ><figcaption>Renderings show renovations to LMCU Ballpark in Comstock Park, the home of the West Michigan Whitecaps. Credit: Rosseti</figcaption></figure>The Detroit Tigers’ run in the Major League Baseball postseason could bring benefits to the team’s minor league affiliate in the Grand Rapids area.The Tigers, now in a best-of-five game American League divisional series against the Cleveland Guardians that goes to a deciding game Saturday, can at a minimum generate increased fan attention for the West Michigan Whitecaps as the Midwest League franchise continues a $35 million renovation of LMCU Ballpark in Comstock Park.Keep up with all things West Michigan business. Sign up for our free newsletters today.The Whitecaps open group ticket sales in two weeks for the 2025 season. Interest in group sales that accounted for nearly half of the Whitecaps’ attendance in the 2024 season is “really high and it always is, but it’s even a little more special right now given what the big-league club is doing over in Detroit,” CEO and Managing Partner Joe Chamberlin told Crain’s Grand Rapids Business.“When the Tigers are good, our interest level is in a different category,” Chamberlin said. “Right now, people love talking about baseball and they love talking about the Tigers and that makes what we’re doing a whole lot easier. Bottom line, you’re aligned with a winner.”The West Michigan Whitecaps drew 372,943 fans to LMCU Ballpark for the 2024 season that ended Sept. 6, averaging 5,827 people per game, the highest in 23 seasons.<figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=06aCyJ_0w32r2wW00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=06aCyJ_0w32r2wW00" width="1200" height="795" ><figcaption>Whitecaps CEO and Managing Partner Joe Chamberlin. Credit: File photo by Mark Sanchez, Crain’s Grand Rapids Business</figcaption></figure>The Whitecaps are the High Class A affiliate of the Tigers. In recent years, the team had a dozen young players — Riley Greene, Parker Meadows and Spencer Torkelson among them — who are now on Detroit’s roster and either began their professional careers or played in West Michigan.The Tigers’ surprise success this season could also help the Whitecaps as the franchise works to raise $35 million in capital from investors to pay for ongoing major stadium renovations, including a new playing field and outfield terraces for group ticket sales. So far, the franchise has secured commitments from investors for about one-third of the goal.As the Whitecaps ownership continues to seek investors for the capital raise, the Tigers’ postseason play “absolutely starts to resonate in a different way, and I think opens doors to those kinds of discussions,” both locally and outside of West Michigan, Chamberlin said.<figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=4P4MVv_0w32r2wW00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=4P4MVv_0w32r2wW00" width="1280" height="960" ><figcaption>Crews continue work on renovations to LMCU Ballpark in Comstock Park. Credit: Mark Sanchez, Crain’s Grand Rapids Business</figcaption></figure>“I’ve had a lot of great discussions with people in the metro Detroit market, and they’re talking to me because they have an interest in sports ownership, but mostly because they love the Tigers,” he said. “If people are jazzed up about Tigers baseball on the east side of the state, then that prospect of having a minority interest in the Tigers’ only in-state affiliate starts to feel a little bit different and resonates a little bit differently.”After losing 5-4 Thursday at Comerica Park, the Tigers play the deciding game five in the series in Cleveland on Saturday night.</div></body>

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Detroit Tigers’ postseason shine rubs off on West Michigan Whitecaps: ‘You’re aligned with a winner’

The Detroit Tigers’ run in the Major League Baseball postseason could bring benefits to the team’s minor league affiliate in the Grand Rapids area. The Tigers, now in a best-of-five game American League divisional series against the Cleveland Guardians that goes to a deciding game Saturday, can at a minimum generate increased fan attention for the West Michigan Whitecaps as the Midwest League franchise continues a $35 million renovation of LMCU Ballpark in Comstock Park.

Detroit Tigers’ postseason shine rubs off on West Michigan Whitecaps: ‘You’re aligned with a winner’

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