lordstanley

I've decided that getting the 2nd wildcard instead of the 3rd is meaningful to me. Houston is playing their best ball of the year whereas the O's have been sluggish since the All-Star break. I get the Tigers and O's have played each other a lot recently, but that goes both ways.

Aurelio Rodriguez and Aurelio Lopez. Both killed in car accidents.

So a second cousin of mine/family friend who used to play for the Wings died last week. Larry Trader, who I referred to as Cousin Larry. He was born in my dad's hometown of 1,500 people and our families spent time together growing up. More with a couple of siblings than with Larry himself. Larry, through the other side of his family, was a cousin of ex-Flame Jim Peplinski. I hadn't spoken to Larry in about 30 years but am sharing a stirring story from his hometown paper on his death, as well as his stats card, as an example of a journeyman player who like so many was a big star growing up and into junior, succeeded in making the NHL and bounced around a lot. Still, patched together a pretty interesting career that paid him quite well for a decade and gave him a lot of stories. Even did some minor league coaching afterwards. NHL including two Original Six teams, AHL, Canadian national team that won a bronze in Moscow, European leagues where he was treated well. A couple of personal stories I have. Larry was called up to the Habs for a cup of coffee one season in the late '80s after Larry Robinson broke his leg. I flew to Montreal from University of Toronto for a game and Larry hooked me up with a ticket to sit beside his wife in with all the other wives. Standing in line to get in at the Forum, I mentioned to a couple of people that my cousin plays for the Habs but you'd know nothing about him. In fact, speaking to the intensity with which the Habs are followed in Montreal, people in those pre-Internet days starting rhyming off a bunch of stats and trivia about Larry, even though he was the fringiest of players. After the game, we went down to the dressing room area (I didn't actually go inside the dressing room) so the wives could kiss their husbands goodbye before the husbands could take a train to Quebec for a game the next night. Then me, Larry's wife and a bunch of other wives all dressed in their fur finery, including Patrick Roy's then-wife, went out for ice cream at a Montreal restaurant. The wives were treated like royalty and I'm sure everyone wondered who was the slobby student with them. A few years later I'm backpacking in Europe, knew Larry was by now playing in Austria, had understood from his mom that she'd told Larry and his wife I was coming and I was to call when I got to his town. In fact they knew nothing about this when I showed up but they took me in and we hung out for a few days. Austrian league didn't play as many games, so it was mostly watching TV before and after Larry went to practice. But one night we went over to the apartment of Moe Lemay and his wife and played cards. That was a riot. Lemay used to play for the Bruins. https://www.eganvilleleader.ca/breaking-news/the-extraordinary-life-and-hardships-of-a-small-town-hero/ The extraordinary life and hardships of a small-town hero

Will the Tigers be the first team to ride TBA/bullpen games to a playoff spot? If so, that would be their legacy. But would it be enough to cause a change in how teams look at managing their pitching staff, or is that change already well in motion?

Mariners lose. Tigers’ magic number over them is down to 2.

Twins lose. Tigers’ playoff magic number is …4!

Yes, so the magic number is the hornet of those. Right now, the Tigers’ magic number to clinch a playoff spot is 5: because 1 over Boston, 1 over Tampa, 3 over Seattle and 5 over Minnesota. To clinch the 2nd wildcard is 6, over K.C.

Yes, so the magic number is the hornet of those. Right now, the Tigers’ magic number to clinch a playoff spot is 5: because 1 over Boston, 1 over Tampa, 3 over Seattle and 5 over Minnesota. To clinch the 2nd wildcard is 6, over K.C.

I was thinking of a Magic Number thread, but probably a bit soon. However, if the Twins lose tonight so the Tigers would be 2 up with 5 to go and a magic number of 4, would be tempting ….

Nice vantage point of the runs scoring double.

A month ago never thought the Sept 24 game thread would have 9 pages. 9 posts, maybe.

Pitchers fired up.

American League ERA is safe. An 18th win would put him two ahead of a few AL pitchers with 16, so worst he would do is share it and even that is unlikely. Only guy within strikeouts range is Cole Ragans, 10 back.

This doesn’t seem like a game where the Tigers can afford to waste two on, one out opportunities. Scoreless after 4.

Game is on the MLB Network. Tigers feed.

I'm hoping this is Skubal's last regular season start. Keep winning, clinch by Saturday, rest Skubal Sunday and have him ready for the wildcard round. Is that too much to ask?

I wonder if any team as high up in the standings as KC was as of mid-August then had two 7-game losing streaks in a month like the Royals have.

Shades of Andrew Miller '06.

I was worried about Alim McNeil so "Mack will be day to day" is pretty good at least.

Good work, thanks. Yesterday was perfect example. The Lions scored a TD on the opening drive and then except for 5 minutes led the rest of the way. They had a 2-score lead throughout the entire 2nd half until under 4 minutes to go, at which point they promptly got two 1st downs to ice it. It was about as drama-free of a road game as can be.