The Tigers were taking questions from fans on Wednesday afternoon at Oakland University when a young fan had the microphone. Speaking sheepishly, he asked Magglio Ordonez what it felt like to win the World Series.

Ordonez paused for effect, then smiled. "We didn't win it," he said.

They didn't win it, but considering the expectations after 12 years of losing seasons in Detroit, it felt like they did once the sting wore off. But it won't feel that way if they don't win it all this year.

The Tigers know the expectations have changed. It's the reason fans have come out in droves to see the team on its Winter Caravan, and it's the reason opponents are highlighting the Tigers when they advertise their schedule. After years of chasing so many other teams last year, Detroit is suddenly the team that the rest of the American League is chasing. Never mind that they were technically a second-place team.

"Everybody's expecting more out of us, which they should," Kenny Rogers said. "I think we got a glimpse of what we're capable of. As a group, the expectations, the bar should be set higher."

The Tigers realize it. Starting in Spring Training, they have to react to it.

"In Spring Training," Nate Robertson said, "I think that's the biggest key for this team going into this year. We have so many guys, including myself, that had, not only playoff experience, but World Series experience for the first time, and it's not automatic. It took so much for us to get to that point, and it's not just going to happen this year.

"We can't just take the field and [take for granted] it's going to happen. We have to enjoy the fact that we did it last year, but remember it's last year and focus on this year. Because if we go out there [expecting it to just happen], we're going to get killed. And I think that's the biggest key this year."

The key in dealing with it, Robertson said, is manager Jim Leyland. Fortunately, Leyland was thinking about it before last season was over.

At one point during the World Series, he talked about next spring, and he promised he'd be even harder on his players than he was when he was setting his authority last spring. He gets to take a team from the World Series and follow up on it, something he didn't get to do in Florida after their 1997 championship, and he's not going to waste the opportunity.

To their advantage, the Tigers bring back nearly everyone from last year's team, save for lefty reliever Jamie Walker. With Gary Sheffield and Jose Mesa on board, they've actually added onto it. But if they need any evidence that returning talent and experience can't do it all, they need only look at the White Sox. Chicago brought back their core players from their 2005 title, added Javier Vazquez and Jim Thome, and entered 2006 as the team to fear. They fell from 99 to 90 wins and from first to third place.

If anyone knows how to deal with sky-high expectations, it's Sheffield. His three seasons with the Yankees all came with the expectation of a world championship, but they fell short. His two seasons before that came in Atlanta, where 14 years of winning division titles built up enough expectations that Turner Field didn't sell out for National League Division Series games.

When teams like that get "spoiled," as Sheffield put it, they don't win. Like Robertson, Sheffield believes Leyland is the key to avoiding that.

"I don't think he's going to let guys get complacent," Sheffield said. "He's going to push them, because we haven't done anything yet. Getting to the World Series is great, but it's not what everybody comes to Spring Training for. You come to win. If it had happened, then I would say something different. But that's the goal, and that's going to be the mission from Day 1 in Spring Training: Prepare like you want to win. That's what it's about."

Teams that have won, Sheffield said, have to play with a chip on their shoulder to match the chip other teams have on theirs. Others say they have to find a way to keep the approach they had last season, trying to prove something.

Carlos Guillen, for one, doesn't think it should be complicated. Every team, every year is different. The key is to duplicate the effort.

"When you come to Spring Training, to me, everybody has to think to win," he said. "Personally, I don't like to put pressure on myself. I just want to play the same way I played last year. The media wants to remind you of last season. That's in the past. Now we have to look forward to take the next step and win it all.

"To me, it's different on paper. On the field, we try to play the same way. Before, nobody was thinking about us [as contenders]. Now, everybody's talking about us. We don't have to put pressure on ourselves. We have to play the same way we played last year, trying to win."