Decades of decline in the Motor City, and more bad news about the automotive industry this year, only added insult to injury.
But now, for the first time in a long time, the sound of success:
"The Tigers march to the World Series!" proclaimed announcer Joe Buck on FOX Sports after Detroit won the American League pennant on Oct. 14.
"People aren't talking about all the negatives," says Richard Blouse, president of Detroit's Chamber of Commerce. "People are talking about, ‘Hey, what about the Tigers?'"
And talking about doing something that in recent years was unheard of — going downtown.
If you build it, they will come. That's what Detroit was hoping when their ballpark opened. Now, six years later, they finally are.
Just across the street is Cheli's Chili, a restaurant recently opened by Detroit Red Wings hockey star Chris Chelios. The building had sat abandoned for 15 years.
"It looked as bad as it can," Cheli's Chili's general manager Rob Marano said. "It looked like war went through here."
Some $11 billion has been invested in downtown Detroit since 2000. Restaurants and theaters have opened. Derelict buildings are now condominiums and lofts. Detroit's mayor says it's all been done to show wary suburbanites it's cool to come back.
"[We have] 74 new businesses downtown," Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick said. "Thirty-eight new restaurants, and as you can see, I've sampled all of them. There's a lot going on downtown."
This isn't the first time the Tigers have lifted Motown's spirits. Their 1968 World Series victory over the St. Louis Cardinals helped calm racial tensions after deadly riots the year before.
Still, today, with 8 percent unemployment, Detroit remains the poorest big city in America.
"We need a pick-me-up," says one Detroit resident. "And the World Series is doing that for us."
"And now more and more people are coming downtown, and they see you're safe, it's fine!" echoes another.
On the eve of the World Series, this city is holding its Tigers by the tail, hoping to make a roaring comeback.