9/22/24 1:35PM Tigers @ Orioles

[Sports_Freak]

8 minutes ago, lordstanley said:

We may as well cheer for a Yankees sweep of Baltimore in NY this week. You never know. 
 

 

Finishing the season with an 8 game winning streak would have up rooting for the Twins over Baltimore in the 3 game series they have. But we may need Baltimore to win if the Twins sweep Miami. 3 against Tampa and 3 against the WSox.

[Sports_Freak]

2 minutes ago, Tiger337 said:

I think he was taking a shot at me for complaining about expanded playoffs in the past.

I still don't like expanded playoffs in general.  Making the playoffs because they have wildcards is not what makes this exciting for me.  It's the comeback itself that excites me.  If they don't make the playoffs or they get bounced in the first round, I will still consider this a remarkable run.

I agree with you about the expanded playoffs. In the past, they went into November. Baseball is a warm summer game, not a wind-chill game. The season should be over in mid-October, at the latest. And these exciting divisional and wild card races are artifical excitment. But still fun when it's OUR team...lol

[guy incognito]

1 hour ago, Sports_Freak said:

Do like football and share everything? A lot of people don't realize they share everything. I don't know what the answer is, just that signing 1 or 2 players in a small market can handcuff a team for years. I'm amazed some teams haven't folded. Switch to 3 team divisions with top 2 teams making the playoffs...lol

Depending on a class action lawsuit that the NFL lost back in June and is still appealing, that league might not be able to share everything in the future either. If that happens, look for teams like the Cowboys and Patriots to be even more dominant than the Yankees, Red Sox, Dodgers, etc. are in MLB.

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Articles/2024/07/01/nfl-sunday-ticket-trial-appeals-process-supreme-court

 

[VegasTiger]

[lordstanley]

Even if under a restricted playoff format like one I’d prefer - a 15 team league, no divisions , top 3 make playoffs with the #1 team getting a bye into ALCS - there would be still some excitement around the Tigers. They’d be 4 games behind Baltimore and 3 games behind Houston in the race for that 3rd spot behind NYY and Cleveland. So would be going into final week with a shot at making it, albeit much less so than under the current format with 6 teams making it. 

Edited September 23, 2024 by lordstanley

[RandyMarsh]

Tigers up to 69.7% on ESPN playoff odds(same as the Royals), Twins at 54.5%.

[Tiger337]

47 minutes ago, Sports_Freak said:

I agree with you about the expanded playoffs. In the past, they went into November. Baseball is a warm summer game, not a wind-chill game. The season should be over in mid-October, at the latest. And these exciting divisional and wild card races are artifical excitment. But still fun when it's OUR team...lol

It's a cheap thrill, but a cheap thrill is better than what they gave us the last several years!

[oblong]

I’m with Lee. I don’t need the playoffs to validate the season for me.  They did that most of the year. The last month or so has been the best regular season action in a long long time.  Maybe since 2011.  

[gehringer_2]

MLB showed Tigers have announced starters for Tampa series and no Casey Mize. (Skubal, Monterro, Olson)

[Tenacious D]

My guess is that Riley signs an extension this offseason.  Will be interesting—he’s only 23.  Maybe a contract that pays him well for the remainder of his arb seasons and Tigers get him for 2-3 seasons beyond that.

Doubt Skubal signs before free agency.

Edited September 23, 2024 by Tenacious D

[tiger2022]

42 minutes ago, gehringer_2 said:

MLB showed Tigers have announced starters for Tampa series and no Casey Mize. (Skubal, Monterro, Olson)

Starting Casey Mize is no different than starting Maeda, they will need to plate at least 7 or 8 runs to win.

[RandyMarsh]

Yeah Skubal strikes me as a "bet on yourself" type guy, much like Max was. I don't think he's going to leave potential money on the table by signing an extension early but I could be wrong about that. 

[monkeytargets39]

51 minutes ago, gehringer_2 said:

MLB showed Tigers have announced starters for Tampa series and no Casey Mize. (Skubal, Monterro, Olson)

Good

[tiger2022]

11 minutes ago, RandyMarsh said:

Yeah Skubal strikes me as a "bet on yourself" type guy, much like Max was. I don't think he's going to leave potential money on the table by signing an extension early but I could be wrong about that. 

Skubal isn't staying in Detroit.  He might be traded at the deadline next season depending on how the Tigers do.

Edited September 23, 2024 by tiger2022

[gehringer_2]

One thing in the Tigers' favor is that it take more dollars later for the player to recoup what he loses in his arb yrs. If the Tiger offer him A big AAV for 25/26 that should carry a certain level of incentive. And if it's going to take 8 yr or so in the deal, you'd rather give that to him at 28 than 30 - well at 30 they certainly wouldn't even offer it. Or the Tigers could figure if they let him walk at 30 they've had his best years. Of course, a lot of people thought that about Verlander at 34 and he put up another 23 WAR.

[Sports_Freak]

 

[Scottwood]

I think the expanded playoffs are mostly for revenue purposes, but also so that smaller market teams can have a chance to win a championship w/o a salary cap being in place (since the playoffs are so random). At least, in theory anyway.  The Tigers as a franchise have a much better chance of winning the WS one day than finishing with the best regular season record in MLB and being legitimately the "best" team in MLB. 

[IdahoBert]

5 hours ago, oblong said:

I’m with Lee. I don’t need the playoffs to validate the season for me.  They did that most of the year. The last month or so has been the best regular season action in a long long time.  Maybe since 2011.  

A few days ago, I stridently agreed with the statement “I don’t need the playoffs to validate the season for me.“ I was happy with this season and with the promise of what this club could bring next season. That’s still the case, although I do find myself caught up in this tremendous and unexpected stampede to get to the playoffs. Our team’s forward momentum, and the falling dominoes of the fortunes of other clubs right now, is astonishing to witness.

We all know, given the strange alchemy of this recent run, that this team is indeed capable of beating anyone even though it’s a team with a lot of rookies who seem mysteriously able to do the right thing at the right time and exceed whatever could rightly be seen as possible.

So I would be a little disappointed if they didn’t at least make the playoffs this year, although it wouldn’t be an excoriating disappointment like our last two appearances at the World Series. 

Overall this season, regardless of its previous downsides, is an extraordinary gift and something memorable and easy to treasure, regardless of what the ultimate payout is in the end. 

[casimir]

8 hours ago, oblong said:

I’m with Lee. I don’t need the playoffs to validate the season for me.  They did that most of the year. The last month or so has been the best regular season action in a long long time.  Maybe since 2011.  

The action on the field and the results have been wonderful.  But also add in the fact that this really has been a total team effort.  Its sometimes cliche and gratuitous to include the last guy on the roster in the spoils of the success.  But the aspect of the pitching staff usage and the mixing and matching of the position players along the way has added something to it.

[chasfh]

10 hours ago, lordstanley said:

The past 6 weeks of this season may be as surprising as the first 4 months of the 2006 season. 

People forget that about 2006, how fast a start we got off to and then how under. 500 we were in the second half. It really does prove what a blip in history 2006 was for us.

[chasfh]

10 hours ago, Sports_Freak said:

I agree with you about the expanded playoffs. In the past, they went into November. Baseball is a warm summer game, not a wind-chill game. The season should be over in mid-October, at the latest. And these exciting divisional and wild card races are artifical excitment. But still fun when it's OUR team...lol

Fun fact: in most northern cities, temperatures average higher on November 1 than on April 1, by some two to five degrees. There is also a substantially higher probability for rain on April 1 (28%) than on November 1 (22%), and the wind on April 1 is slightly higher and more from the north and east than on November 1, which is more from the south and west.

Even setting aside playoff vs regular season, you are more likely to feel comfortable at a ballgame on November 1 than on April 1.

 

Edited September 23, 2024 by chasfh

[oblong]

18 minutes ago, casimir said:

The action on the field and the results have been wonderful.  But also add in the fact that this really has been a total team effort.  Its sometimes cliche and gratuitous to include the last guy on the roster in the spoils of the success.  But the aspect of the pitching staff usage and the mixing and matching of the position players along the way has added something to it.

This team is more fun to watch in a lot of ways than the 2012-2013 versions.  That was station to station baseball.  We had big guys on the bases that were easy to double up, wouldn't take the extra base.  They were poor on defense.

Yeah we had a couple of stud starters.... but our pitchers today aren't doing worse.  And I put Skubal up there with those starters.

 

[monkeytargets39]

The nice thing about making the playoffs this year would be the complete lack of expectations attached to it.  If we make it in and lose in the wildcard round, I think we would all still be very satisfied with the season and hyped for next year.

 

Unlike the 2006-2014 years where playoffs were expected and then mostly a foregone conclusion by August most seasons and then not converting any year into a title actually was a disappointment and hurts.

[chasfh]

8 hours ago, oblong said:

I’m with Lee. I don’t need the playoffs to validate the season for me.  They did that most of the year. The last month or so has been the best regular season action in a long long time.  Maybe since 2011.  

Man, I take a look at that 2011 roster and so many of those guys just feel like hired guns. Nothing like the team of kids capturing our hearts now.

[casimir]

6 minutes ago, oblong said:

This team is more fun to watch in a lot of ways than the 2012-2013 versions.  That was station to station baseball.  We had big guys on the bases that were easy to double up, wouldn't take the extra base.  They were poor on defense.

Yeah we had a couple of stud starters.... but our pitchers today aren't doing worse.  And I put Skubal up there with those starters.

 

Yes, the more athletic style of play in the field, offensively and defensively, has been fun, too.

I'm not sure its all Meadows, but it seems like the defense has been much improved since his return.  I suppose part of that is the significant upgrade with Meadows in CF and the domino effect of Greene and Vierling with decent CF skills being pushed to the corners.  The range of the total OF is noticeably better.

But the IF also seems to have gotten better.  Jung isn't necessarily a 3B, at least to my unqualified eye.  I think the arm is suspect to begin with.  However I think he's been better than advertised.  And Torkelson seems to be better than he was before, albeit there's still room for improvement there.