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Ilitch spent big on Javier Baez, well over $100 million, so there’s precedent for spending on players. Ilitch has also spent big on baseball infrastructure, which was badly dilapidated. Coaching, development, data science and technology, top talent in all back office and on-field facets, things like that. It’s the kind of boring but necessary investment that pay dividends by allowing us to be competitive using our newfound abilities without having to throw hundreds of millions at players to cover the holes in the system. So why hasn’t Ilitch been spending on both infrastructure and players? Two reasons related to each other that I can think of: (1) We haven’t been at the stage of development where a top free agent puts us over the top. We’ve been a 70-75-win team, and spending $200 million on the shiniest object on the free agent market would not even get us to .500 in that scenario, which would make everyone, including you, unhappy; and (2) players who can command $200 million have the luxury of bypassing a 70-75-win team in flyover land and focusing on 90+-win teams in the very top markets, which is why they called it agency. I’m not sold at all on going after Bergman. I don’t think of him as the last piece of the puzzle.

Yes, although I got the exact seat numbers: 14 and 15. The up side is that I will be more in line with looking down the third base line, which I like. The down side is that they are the two seats right on the aisle, and it’s a low row, so I’m anticipating a steady stream of ants-in-the-pants people going up and down and continually blocking my view of anything to the right of the plate, including the pitcher. Hope I’m wrong, but I don’t think I am.

Every time both the Yankees and Mets are still in the playoffs, an angel weeps.

I put Brewers radio on the phone, cast it to the soundbar and synched it up, same as with Dan and Bobby, specifically to hear Ueck, because it might be the last game he ever does.

“Hey, Eddie, why are you wearing after shave?”

I promise you it will not be anywhere near 68 degrees on Monday. We’re probably bringing ski jackets in.

If someone were sitting in front of me telling me I can win $280 if I bet $10 on the Tigers winning the Series, I’d be like, sure, why not. If I have to seek out some website or app, though, then no sale.

I’ve long thought it’s a middle school version of tough that red hats never evolved from respecting.

And, also, don't let Cleveland's bullpen make an appearance. 😏

One more dollar in salary!

I can't imagine any scenario in which Scott Harris bails on the stabilized Tigers to go back to the hot mess that is San Francisco.

I absolutely 100% believe that.

To be clear, I agree there was a lot of wishcasting here well into this year that Harris hated Hinch, Hinch hated Harris, Ilitch hated them both, that one or both of them were going to get fired, and that Leyland was going to came back on his Marlboro horse and save us all. OK, I made up that last one. But the rest of it, pretty true for certain posters. But I don't think there was ever any broad agreement or consensus here that Hinch would get fired anytime soon. Speaking only for myself, not only did I never think that even for a nanosecond, I've actually thought at points that Hinch might ascend to general manager under Harris, and that someone else, possibly George Lombard, would become field manager. I think that far less now. But even if the Tigers had gone 20-20 in their last 40 games and finished 76-86 instead, I would never have believed that Hinch was in any danger of losing his job here. If that were to happen, I would have despaired for the direction of the franchise, as I did once it became clear that Avila was never going to take analytics seriously.

No, I don’t think so.

As we all know as media-savvy consumers, there is a race among the beats to be first reporting the final, and there is nothing in it for Elon to create a delay function on his platform.

Here is my seat for Monday’s Game 2, featuring the stylings of Tarik Skubal!

Yes, and also, pinch hitting and defensive substitutions, as well as picking the right guy to open. A.J. is hitting on all cylinders right now.

I wouldn’t have though Mark Meadows cared about Mike Pence enough to confront Trump over it.

No doubt. Tell you what, though: when A.J.’s active managing comes up snake eyes a couple games in a row, the board is gonna go right back to that hoary old solid gold biggie, Fire Hinch and the Hitting Coaches. 😏

Maybe not. He’s on the Network a fair amount, so he may not want to give that up. The Tigers may go outside the family for a permanent color guy next year.

Exactly. Not every team can put together a reliable bullpen they know will crush it every game, and in fact SSS randomness will lay such plans to waste pretty often. It happened to work for us this time. But hey, if Cleveland and Minnesota and Kansas City want to try to copy that and go long with it next season, they are certainly welcome to try. 😁

The Twitter alerts that come in before I can see or hear the plays on TV/radio are what gets me. I frequently watch TV while interacting with you guys on my iPad, so it’ll be two outs in the ninth, I’ll be waiting for the resolution, and then one of the beat guys will tweet the final, and the alert pops up before I can see it play out on TV. It’s gotten so persistent that I have turned off my Twitter alerts on the iPad, and I flip over the face of my phone so I can’t see the alerts there either.

And Bobby Scales with the underrated follow-up! I’ve come to like him a lot better this year.