DETROIT — All those people who kept doubting the Detroit Tigers, take a week off and think again.

Jim Leyland, Magglio Ordonez and the rest of Tigers will be spending that time getting ready for the World Series.

Written off by the entire baseball world only three years ago, the Tigers made it official yesterday. They're back, and on the prowl.

Ordonez hit his second homer of the game, connecting for a three-run shot with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning that lifted Leyland's team over the Oakland Athletics, 6-3, for a startling four-game sweep of the AL Championship Series.

"I think early on in spring training we had a lot of good players. We didn't have a good team," Leyland said. "And today I can make the statement that we've got a good team, and that's the thing that I'm proudest of."

With the crowd of 42,967 at Comerica Park in delirium, joined by fans watching from distant downtown buildings and all over Michigan, the Tigers rejoiced after their seventh straight postseason win.

The wild-card Tigers now get to rest up for Game 1, at home Saturday night against either the New York Mets or St. Louis Cardinals. It will be their first Series appearance since winning it all exactly 22 years ago yesterday on Oct. 14, 1984.

In those days, Sparky Anderson, Kirk Gibson and Jack Morris were among the big names at Tiger Stadium, making history at the corner of Michigan and Trumbull.

Starting next week, these Tigers get a chance to make their mark at the address of baseball's most surprising story — Woodward and Montcalm.

"Nobody could have expected this. It's unreal," said Tigers Hall of Famer Al Kaline, currently a team official.

Ordonez stamped the victory with his no-doubt, winning drive into the left-field stands.

"I knew it was gone as soon as I hit it," Ordonez said. "This is what I've dreamed about my whole career, my whole life. I don't even remember running around the bases."

Members of the Tigers' bullpen rushed in from left field and nearly beat Ordonez to the plate as fans twirled white towels.

Down 3-0 early, the Tigers clawed back to tie it against Dan Haren when Ordonez hit a solo home run in the sixth.

After Craig Monroe and ALCS MVP Placido Polanco singled with two outs in the ninth off Huston Street, Ordonez launched a shot over the wall.

Ordonez stood to watch the ball sail while Monroe and Polanco began jumping. It was the eighth homer ever to end a postseason series.

As the Tigers celebrated at the plate, Leyland walked across the field to Oakland's first-base dugout to congratulate the A's. He had special words for A's slugger Frank Thomas, who went 0 for 13 in the series.

"It was a numbing feeling," Thomas said. "It's my little brother who did it — Magglio. We spent seven years together and I'm happy for him. He's always wanted a ring and he's going to get a chance."

Detroit posted the first ALCS sweep since Oakland chased Boston in 1990.

"I told the players they can't let this series diminish what they did this year," Oakland manager Ken Macha said. "I thought it was a tremendous year."