DETROIT (WXYZ) — After spending 313 days in the hospital waiting for a heart transplant, Alex Castonguay will finally experience his first Detroit Tigers playoff game in person when the team takes on the Seattle Mariners in Game 3 of the American League Division Series at Comerica Park.
"Me going to this first playoff game after having such an awful weird year means more to me than I think most people realize," he said. "If we end up going all the way this year, I will cry."
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The 30-year-old lifelong Tigers fan has been a season ticket holder since 2022, but instead of witnessing last year's playoff run from the ballpark, he watched from a hospital room.
"I was born with hypoplastic left heart. I always knew at some point in my life I was going to need a heart transplant and that day came when I turned 25," Castonguay said.
His health deteriorated in May 2024, leading to a 313-day hospital stay as he waited for an organ donor and eventually recovered from the procedure. During that time, his passion for the Tigers never wavered.
"I watched Opening Day (2025) in the hospital. I ordered some hot dogs off my hospital menu and anyone who came in to do therapy or anything, I would tell them 'not today. Today's not a good day. My Tigers are playing,'" Castonguay said.
Watch our previous coverage when Alex Castonguay was recovering during Opening Day:
His wife Christina has been by his side throughout the entire ordeal and will accompany him to the playoff game.
"I know it was just a struggle for him, the mental capacity just waiting in the hospital that long," Christina Castonguay said. "He just amazes me with everything he’s able to do now.”
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Alex Castonguay underwent both heart and liver transplants in March. As his life slowly returns to normal, he remains grateful for his family, the Tigers players making this postseason run and, most importantly, his young organ donor.
"Because of somebody else — unfortunately, their circumstance — gave me an opportunity to feel good again and live my life again and get back to some normalcy," Alex Castonguay said. “Organ donation is something that many people will never have to endure in their lifetime, especially being my age."
"We have no idea who his organ donor is, but there's not a day that goes by where I am not so thankful that they gave him the second chance, so he could go and do this stuff," Christina Castonguay said. “Without organ donations, I wouldn’t have my husband sitting next to me."
Comerica Park is already prepared for the game, with a block party scheduled to begin three hours before first pitch in front of the stadium.
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