Tigers declare Comerica Park sod ready for Opening Day

They say the grass is always greener on the other side.

Well, mercifully, it is greener at Comerica Park, where the Detroit Tigers are scheduled to play the Kansas City Royals on Opening Day on Monday afternoon (1 p.m., FSD).

While the snow is melting after a brutal Michigan winter and most of us find our front lawns to be brown in color and straw-like in texture, the turf at Comerica looks remarkably green and springy and ready for the first game of the year.

The tarp that has protected the playing field at Comerica since new sod was laid just a couple weeks ago was rolled back this morning, revealing a healthy carpet-like layer of Kentucky bluegrass.

Any lingering doubts about Mondays game being postponed because of a sub-par playing surface were dismissed by Tigers head groundskeeper Heather Nabozny, who doesnt mind watching grass grow.

Its been a tough one this year, said Nabozny, looking over the field from the Tigers dugout. We ran into a lot of weather issues. We had to remove the snow twice the first time, 11 inches and, the next time, 4 before we could even think about grading the field and laying the sod.

Nabozny used giant warmers to thaw the ground so that the sod could be laid. Comerica Parks grass was ripped up in November, before the NHL installed a hockey rink at the stadium for the Winter Festival.

This was the first complete resodding at Comerica since 2007.

So whats left to do before Monday?

Mowing, coloring it up a little bit, fertilizing, said Nabozny, who has been with the Tigers for 15 years. We started to mow today. Weve had the growth covers on it so it started growing a bit.

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Tigers declare Comerica Park sod ready for Opening Day