MichiganCardinal

What a wasted opportunity.

Sweeney swinging at a pitch that could have hit him, then watching middle-middle go right by.

God dammit. Need to score him.

Just a fly ball. Get us one.

Suuuper early for them to be looking at Smith.

I think if there hadn't been a flailing Skubal in between the batter and Sweeney, it's an easy out. There was also english on the ball coming off the mound. I'm okay with it as an error or a hit.

I can't imagine Skubal is on a hard pitch count. But he's only gone over 100 four times this year. Max of 103.

If they score three, they'll go to the ALCS.

They sure love making Boyd look like the Cy Young.

When you do this 180+ times in a year, it probably turns into just another day at the office at some point.

Thursday it was probably a push. Today, Detroit. With Skubal pitching today, he would be in line for Games 3 and 7 in the ALCS; if the Tigers had won Thursday, there's a world in which he could have pitched in Games 1, 4, and 7.

Alright, I'm over this bye week nonsense, let's go.

I think this is right. They've been punching above their weight class for a while, and it feels like their opportunity to win this series was on Thursday when they were up a run, seven outs away, with no one on. The offense is just missing one or two bats that can consistently turn the lineup over and manufacture one or two more runs in a game. To add something of a pessimistic take though, while the run has been fun (and I'm kicking myself for not paying more attention sooner), I do worry this is just going to ultimately justify the cheapskate tendencies of Chris Illitch that drove me away from being a consistent follower in the first place. Yes, they've had a magical two months with the 5th lowest payroll in baseball, thanks to a stellar manager who is playing chess to his opponents' checkers and a group of young guys and misfit toys getting hot at the right time...... But looking around the league, the Mets, Yankees, and Dodgers have the 1st, 2nd, and 5th highest payrolls in baseball. And while I don't think it's realistic to (ever?) expect Chris to spend how Mike did, I do think the Tigers will struggle to have sustained success so long as they are relying on assembling teams and winning games how they did this 2024 squad. Of course, when you do spend money it also has to be on guys that perform better than Javy Baez, but that's a given. I hope they show me wrong and make this sustainable though. Or Chris shows me wrong and opens the checkbook in the right situations.

I know this is a pet peeve that annoys an audience of one, BUT.... They weren't foul tips. A "foul tip" is defined in the rule book as "a batted ball that goes sharply and directly to the catcher's hand or glove and is legally caught." Every time an announcer says "that foul tip got him", where him is the catcher or umpire, they are referring to a foul ball. Because foul tips don't hurt. /soap box

These are games you have to win in October.

Two bad pitches are the story so far. Middle-middle to Ramirez and Brieske catching way too much zone on Fry.

Didn’t throw a single strike to Sweeney. Didn’t make him.

We got to Clase when they called on him for four outs in game two. They want five now

Hinch can see the finish line and he wants it tonight

Knock on wood, but to this point I think Tichenor’s zone has been the best in this series. And I don’t think it’s close.

🎵 anything you can do we can do better, we can do anything better than you 🎵

Load the bases by taking pitches and then swing at two straight and inning is over.

Bibee isn’t locating. Take more pitches. Says me.

Bad inning.

Kerry trying to hit a home run at the expense of swinging at two straight ball four pitches.