lordstanley

Stumble …skid …slump…nosedive …plunge … collapse. Maybe we’re still only at “skid”.

Tigers lose. have a knot in my stomach.

Kahnle could end up released within a few weeks.

Probably not, but that’s fine with me. Winning attracts. He admits as much: “Since I was there, it's been a lot different," Suárez said, comparing the Tigers of the 2010s to the 2025 Tigers. "It's a new team with a lot of young guys and a lot of talent. I think they have a really good chance to make it more than the playoffs this year. They got, for me, the best pitcher in the league right now: Tarik Skubal," Suárez said. "They got a bunch of good players. I think they really have a chance to win it all this year."

True, 47-50 after 97 games and 52-57 on July 31. But the '24 Tigers even with their torrid finish still topped out at 86 wins and lost the division by 6.5 games. to get up to 87 wins the tigers only need to go 28-37. Before this ugly 4 game losing streak, the tigers had won 8 of 10.

Only 65 games left. No AL Central opponent is good enough to make up a double digit deficit in that span.

Agreed. I bet he’d yield a 2nd or lower if he was to be traded now. Not worth it now that we’ve waited this long, better off sticking it out.

60 years ago some players who had been pulled early probably ended up in the dugout in civvies for the final inning or the two of the All Star Game. Difference is that while watching in civvies they’d have a cigarette in one hand and a rum and Coke in the other.

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/45750644/mlb-all-star-game-2025-swing-home-run-kyle-schwarber "The rules were simple: NL manager Dave Roberts and AL manager Aaron Boone selected three players and one alternate to take three swings. The team with the most home runs wins the game. As nice as it would have been for Shohei Ohtani and Aaron Judge to participate, when they made their choices in the days leading up to the game, both managers selected players they anticipated would be warm from finishing on the field: Schwarber, Mets first baseman Pete Alonso and Diamondbacks third baseman Eugenio Suarez for the NL, countering Brent Rooker of the A's, Mariners outfielder Randy Arozarena and Tampa Bay first baseman Jonathan Aranda." "Boone and Roberts had a finite group from which to choose. Around half the players were gone from the stadium, already headed home after a long, hot week here."

“Skubal is not a big (exhibition) game pitcher”.

What’s the challenge criteria - does the ball after to be touching the virtual strike zone, substantially in it, completely in it?

Torres strikes out. Greene strikes out. Skubal gives up 2 runs before the 1st out. All is going to plan - Tigers playing possum on the national stage so others will underestimate them in October.

So the Rays sales price of $1.7b is lower than the $1.8 the NHL’s Lightning sold for last year. That seems off. Is there a big real estate disparity or something?

It seems like whenever a team has more than one 1st round pick, they'll take a flier on one of them. Rather than be as prudent as they'd be if that was their only 1st round pick. Would Yzerman have drafted a goalie at #15 if he hadn't also had a #6 overall pick that year (Edvinsson)? Not that any of picks 16-32 except for Wyatt Johnston have made much of an impact at the NHL level yet (a few like #17 Bolduc, #24 Samoskevich and #27 L'Heureux seem to have established themselves as NHL regulars though).

Love or hate Chris Berman, the Home Run Derby is not the same without “back back back”.

And they went 7-1 in the playoffs and never trailed in either of the two series. Even if they had coasted to .500 after the 35-5 start, wouldn’t have mattered because they flicked a switch and dominated again when the post-season started.

Here's the '84 Tigers game by game record. https://www.baseball-almanac.com/teamstats/schedule.php?y=1984&t=DET - The Tigers were 30 games over .500 after their first 40 games of course, at 35-5 - They then played the next 40 games at .500, as they were 30 games over .500 after their first 80 games, at 55-25 - But by 100 games in they were 38 games over .500 - At the 3/4 of the season they were back down to 35 games over .500, at 78-43. So after the 35-5 start they played the next half of the season, 81 games, at just 5 games over .500 (43-38, .530, 86 win pace). That's the closest I can see to "played .500 ball after the 35-5 game start" - Then they turned it on again and finished the season 46 games above .500, having played the final 1/4 in 26-15, .634, 103-win pace

And no super scary teams like the Dodgers in the National League. The Astros despite their success this year likely have peaked. Yankees and Red Sox will be up there due to budget ability, but the Rays or Mariners, maybe not. I'm not writing off the Twins, Guardians and Royals the next few years but nor do I have reason to believe they're going to take jump into being consistent 90+ win teams. In other words, no reason the Tigers can't start putting together a playoff streak in the years ahead and take it from there.

LiveAid was 40 years ago Sunday. Boy, Phil really made this version of In The Air Tonight boring, no? I feel jetlagged just listening to it.

8-4. Humbling going into the break. So may not be a bad thing going into the break.