9/17/25 6:40PM Guardians @ Tigers

[chasfh]

9 hours ago, Tigermojo said:

Help us Tarik Skubal, you're our only hope.

If Tarik Skubal is our only hope, then we have no hope, because that’s not nearly enough hope.

[alex]

9 hours ago, gehringer_2 said:

Tigers have a lot of young hitters who smash bad pitching and struggle against good pitching - most players do of course but the Tigers seem extra susceptible recently. It could be as simple as teams making more of an effort to pitch against their normal tendencies just because they all know at this point that the Tigers are really big on tracking pitcher tendencies. When you are dealing with human performance, the past is only a reliable indicator of the future until the people responsible for creating the history decide it isn't.

Lately, teams have been throwing much more breaking stuff at the Tigers it seems. We still have a team of hitters who simply 'do not like to walk' and will chase especially on 3-2 counts and teams know this so we often get 'spin' in those situations.

No wonder Harris and the 'Control the zone' approach, especially in drafting, is so prevalent. 

This team needs to get it together. They also really could use the bye during the first round of the playoffs - that is if they get in. IMHO, they are not equipped with SP to just 'chaos' it there on out it if they have to play the wild card round initially.

[chasfh]

FWIW, the Tigers are tied for 5th in hitters’ walk rate for the month of September, during which we are 5-9. We also have the highest OBP on 3-2 counts for the season at .484, as well as the 4th highest BA and 6th highest SLG. I do agree it does look very bad when we flail on 3-2 counts.

[gehringer_2]

1 hour ago, chasfh said:

If Tarik Skubal is our only hope, then we have no hope, because that’s not nearly enough hope.

oddly enough, the starting pitching has not been the problem the last couple of games.

[gehringer_2]

49 minutes ago, alex said:

Lately, teams have been throwing much more breaking stuff at the Tigers it seems. We still have a team of hitters who simply 'do not like to walk' and will chase especially on 3-2 counts and teams know this so we often get 'spin' in those situations.

It's pretty universal that hitters hate to take a called third more than they hate going down swinging, and to be fair, there is a certain level of logic to that, but I don't believe you can be a good hitter if you will *never* risk taking a called third.

[Klondike]

1 hour ago, chasfh said:

If Tarik Skubal is our only hope, then we have no hope, because that’s not nearly enough hope.

Really. I could see Skubal going 1-1 or 1-2 in a playoff series. Many times it's the 2nd and 3rd guy that gets hot and performs great and over their heads. That's the reality of it. The weight of the world is on Skubes shoulders and wouldn't surprise me if he tries too hard. 

Edited 14 hours ago by Klondike

[tiger2022]

It's okay.   Charlie Morton is on the roster.  No worries.

[ICroupier]

1 hour ago, gehringer_2 said:

oddly enough, the starting pitching has not been the problem the last couple of games.

5 innings from the starters is not going to cut it with this bullpen. So while the starters haven't been the whole problem, they're certainly part of the problem.

[Motor City Sonics]

18 hours ago, Hongbit said:

Great post and I remember this weekend well.  

While Larry hit the winning HR on Sunday, this was and will forever be known as the Frank Tanana game.   

I was in the CF Bleachers.  We could not see the LF Corner.  We only reacted when we saw others react. 

[Motor City Sonics]

16 hours ago, SoCalTiger said:

Which is why the Doyle Alexander trade for Smoltz was a win win. 

Yes.    People saying the Tigers got fleeced did not understand the situation. 

If Smoltz has stayed with the Detroit organization they would have probably brought up up too early - to pitch for a team that was in decline.     1987 they made the playoffs by 1 game, on the last day, they needed every bit of that Doyle trade.   It was their last real hurrah.  

The Tigers fell short in the AL East by a game in 1988 - and then in 1989 it all crashed and burned.   That's the team that Smoltz would have been coming to and they would have ruined him.    Smoltz was put in a perfect situation for a young pitcher.  

(Edit:Update)

I just looked at the stats for the 1988 team and it's a miracle they won 88 games.    Must have been one hell of a job by Sparky Anderson. 

Talk about a close race.  

 

 

Edited 12 hours ago by Motor City Sonics

[tiger2022]

Actually, in the 80s, the Tigers kept SPs in the minors until usually age of 25, Eric King being the real exception.  They were conservative on bringing them up.  Even Steve Searcy who was their top pitching prospect didn't really pitch much in the majors until he was 25.  I have a feeling Smoltz would have been in the minors until he was 24 as he was getting rocked in the Tigers minor leagues.

[theroundsquare]

The 88 team was in it until early September, when Lou Whitaker hurt himself dancing and had to sit out a bunch of games.  Then the Red Sox pulled ahead.  The one-game-back is misleading because the Red Sox locked up the division before the Tigers won a final few games such that the final standings had them one game back.