lordstanley

No Tigers game today. Lions today, Tigers tomorrow.

37-27 Baltimore. Lions’ offense struggles tonight on its first two possessions before hitting its stride, so is playing catch up the entire game. Keeps it relatively close but the Ravens never feel in danger.

So the Tigers can kiss the best record in the AL goodbye (Jays 5 up and win the tiebreaker) as well as that all-important bye (Mariners 2 up and win the tiebreaker and play 3 against the Rockies). But a 4-2 roadtrip will get them in the playoffs, either as the AL Central winner (1 up, lose the tiebreaker unless they sweep Cleveland) or as an AL wildcard (tied with Boston, win the tiebreaker unless swept by Boston; 1 up on Houston, win the tiebreaker). A 3-3 roadtrip will get them in the playoffs for sure as long as those 3 wins are against the same team (i.e, a sweep of either Cleveland or Boston). An 0-6 roadtrip will get them in the playoffs if Houston does no better than 1-5 and Texas does no better than 5-1.

This was huge to me growing up in the '70s. My uncles had saved a box of old Sports Illustrated from the '60s and I used to read and re-read them. Cover stories about the famous Notre Dame-MSU tie game. Hype around Lew Alcindor. And this issue from the spring of 1965 documenting the collapse from the autumn before. https://vault.si.com/vault/1965/03/01/the-rise-and-fall-of-the-fabulous-phillies

Call me old fashioned, but a nice gesture by the Tigers on Fan Appreciation Day would have been winning a game.

I’m glad Skubal is pitching the first game. If he can get the win, who knows how much pressure that would release.

Loss. 85-71. Would need to go 5-1 to win 90 games, 2-4 to beat last year’s win total, 1-5 to tie last year’s win total.

Guardians lose. Tigers’ lead swells to 1.5 games, lol.

Need 2 more base runners to bring tying run to the plate.

Tigers score a run. Would be kind if interesting if the had got a clean top of the 9th.

Those cheer ladies on top of the dugout have a tough job today.

Lolololol. Needed this good news to make my mind off baseball.

It’s a brand new morning, one in which the Tigers still wake up alone in 1st place. But for the last time this year?

Yep, and four of those spots are available to the Tigers. AL Central and Wildcards #1, #2 and #3. So they have to beat out any one of Yankees (Tigers 2 back, Tigers have clinched tiebreaker win), Seattle (Tigers 1 back, Tigers have clinched tiebreaker loss), Boston (tied, Tigers will win tiebreaker unless swept in final series), Cleveland (Tigers 1 up, Tigers will lose tiebreaker unless sweep next series) or Houston (Tigers 1 up, Tigers have clinched tiebreaker). There's a real possibility of Detroit and Cleveland playing a 3rd series within 2+ weeks, in the wildcard round. With one being the #3 seed and the other being the #6 seed.

Tigers lose, Guardians win, Jays lose, Yankees win, Red Sox win, Mariners win, Astros lose. A week and a day to go and it's now possible that the division winners could be NY Yankees (down 2), Cleveland (down 1) and Seattle (up 1). It is also still possible that the Tigers miss the playoffs while the Cincinnati Reds (down 1 for WC3) make the playoffs.

On the morning of September 11 the Tigers had a 9.5 game lead with 16 games to play. By the evening of September 20, the Tigers have a 1.0 game lead with 7 games to play. By my count, starting Thursday September 11 through the end of today, there will have been 16 games that have impacted the division race and 15 have gone against the Tigers. Only exception is in bold. Thursday September 11 Cleveland beats KC Detroit loses to NY Yankees Friday September 12 Cleveland beats Chicago White Sox Detroit loses to Miami Saturday September 13 Cleveland beats Chicago White Sox Detroit loses to Miami Sunday September 14 Cleveland beats Chicago White Sox Detroit beats Miami Tuesday September 16 Cleveland beats Detroit Wednesday September 17 Cleveland beats Detroit Thursday September 18 Cleveland beats Detroit Friday September 19 Detroit loses to Atlanta Cleveland beats Minnesota Saturday September 20 Detroit loses to Atlanta Cleveland beats Minnesota Cleveland beats Minnesota

Only hope might be Astros losing out.

Guardians take 2-0 lead. One guess as to who drove in the 2 runs.

This was a lopsided 3-point win.

My post was more spoofing of Yzerman diehards.

"When Scott Harris was hired he inherited a mess. Since then he has increased their win total every year. From 66 to 78 in 2023. Then to 86 in 2024. Then to 87 in 2025 if they manage to go 2-5 the rest of the way. What more can you ask for!"