The Detroit Tigers are the feel-good story of this year’s World Series, having made it to baseball’s big dance only three years after posting 119 losses — one of the worst records in history.

The Tigers have given local fans a chance to momentarily forget about another dubious distinction: that they reside in a city with one of the highest foreclosure rates in the nation.

Detroit’s Wayne County reported 4,190 properties entering foreclosure in September, the second most only behind Chicago’s Cook County (whose fans didn’t have any team to cheer in the playoffs this year). The city’s foreclosure rate of one new foreclosure filing for every 197 households was more than five times the national average and tops among the nation’s 100 largest metros.

And foreclosures are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the city’s economic woes, reports the Los Angeles Times, which cites the decline of the automotive industry as the primary culprit. But for at least five games, the city has pushed concerns about the housing market and the economy to the backburner and chosen to focus on baseball: 

“The local news media have started calling Detroit "Tiger Town." Drivers have been seen waving brooms out of their cars, in honor of the team's American League Championship Series sweep of the Oakland A's. The marquee at the State Theatre — just a short walk from Comerica Park, the team's home field — reads: "Let's Party Like It's 1984," a nod to the last time the Tigers won the series. “

In addition to raising the spirits of the city’s residents, the World Series has likely given a temporary boost to the local economy with a sizeable infusion of tourist dollars. Fans of the city are hoping that temporary boost can become the beginnings of an economic turnaround reminiscent of the 2006 Tigers. If that happens, foreclosure investors willing to take a chance on the city now may be amply rewarded in the not-so-distant future.