Tigers Go Out With a Win

I realize that the attention of most Detroit sports fans is on the Lions right now, and I get that. It's October, and the baseball Tigers (other than with Miguel Cabrera's retirement, which sold out Comerica Park yesterday) weren't going anywhere while the football team looks more promising than it has in ages. But, for me, it's still more about baseball, and there's always a tinge of sadness when the Tigers are done for the year.

When that last out is made, there's a finality which I rarely experience elsewhere. Listening to yesterday's game on the radio in the garage at Hessel, I sighed as they went to commercial when the game had ended. With the push of a button came the realization there would be no more Hessel baseball until about May next year. But the 5-2 win over Cleveland left us in second place even with the mediocre record of 78-64. And like the Lions, I think there are better days ahead.

For starters, if you take away the AL East against whom the Tigers were an abysmal 3-17 (or about that; I'm too lazy to look it up this morning) they had a winning record. Lift that figure to .500 and they would have been in playoff contention until late. The pitching has looked good. Even if Eduardo Rodriguez doesn't return we have several other reliable arms, plus Casey Mize returning from Tommy John surgery. I don't know what that is myself but it's saved a lot of careers. If we can improve upon hitting (the team was batting .233 last time I checked, a far from impressive number) we can compete in 2024, especially in our weak division.

Spencer Torkleson had a breakout year and Kerry Carpenter looks like the real deal. If Riley Greene is available after his own Tommy John surgery, seeing him in an outfield with Parker Meadows will allow the team to cover a lot of ground out there. Get another bat too, boys. Maybe a pair.

Yes, there's still another month of baseball and I will watch my share of it. But 2024 is stacking up to be interesting for the Tigers, and I will be pining for it.

Two And Four

Well, they looked awful in Tampa, losing three games in simply horrible fashion. Then they took the first two from the Astros in Houston before tanking pretty bad in the third match. So we find the Detroit Tigers with two wins and four losses six games into the 2023 Season.

That ain't bad. Truth be told, I expected them to be 1-5 at best to start the year. The Tigers aren't likely to be good this time around, and starting things off with six road games against perhaps the two best teams in the American League did not bode well.

But hope springs eternal, and they face the Red Sox in the home opener today. I may just take the afternoon off and watch. If the boss will let me.

I Love Ya, Tomorrow

I love ya, I love ya, tomorrow, tomorrow. You're only a day away.

Today that has extra meaning for me. Detroit Tigers baseball begins tomorrow with the Grapefruit League opening game against the Phillies. Hope springs eternal. One of these years I'm going to take a week and check out some spring games.

Intellectually, I don't expect much from the club this coming season. The Tigers seemed to have taken a step backwards in 2022, and the April schedule is brutal. We may be out of the pennant race by May 1st. But the future is unwritten despite what our prognosticators, and yours truly, might think. You still gotta play the games. 

So for right this minute, that leaves tomorrow. And I love ya, tomorrow. At least, I love ya from this vantage point. Tomorrow's tomorrow may be a whole new, uh, ball game.