06/01/2026 6:40p EDT Detroit Tigers at Tampa Bay Rays

[casimir]

[IdahoBert]

This team is going to be picked apart and I don’t mean Tampa Bay. 

[theroundsquare]

I don't know if they have to be picked apart when they just fall apart 

[IdahoBert]

At least the game starts early by my reckoning in MDT. Before 5 PM for me. By 6 o’clock, they should be so far behind there’ll be no reason to even check my phone.

[SoCalTiger]

I shudder at the thought of playing this series so they will probably do well .

[IdahoBert]

4 minutes ago, SoCalTiger said:

I shudder at the thought of playing this series so they will probably do well .

That’s conceivable. They haven’t even had a run of “dumb luck“ lately so it seems like they’re due.

[IdahoBert]

My friend John who lives in Clearwater and grew up in East Detroit now Eastpointe, sits a 30 minute drive from Tropicana Field and he loves the place. Sings its praises in fact.

And basically he loves the air conditioning and being able to watch baseball out of the heat and humidity. It might be unpleasant to watch it on TV but if you’re indoors there instead of outside sweltering in the parking lot, it’s pretty great according to him. To each their own.

[Sports_Freak]

I hear Tampa likes to bunt. Something to be said about putting the ball in play.

[Tiger337]

Another injury which nobody is talking about is Meadows.  Everybody was complaining about him and saying that he sucked, but he was an excellent defender and he hit a lot better than half their line-up is hitting now.  Their offense and defense was a lot better before all the injuries. 

[gehringer_2]

2 minutes ago, Tiger337 said:

Another injury which nobody is talking about is Meadows.  Everybody was complaining about him and saying that he sucked, but he was an excellent defender and he hit a lot better than half their line-up is hitting now.  Their offense and defense was a lot better before all the injuries. 

but Meadows was never more than a provisional member of the 26. It was probably at least 50/50 he would hit himself off the team. Of course in retrospect once Carpenter went down he probably would have stayed weak bat or no.

[romad1]

29 minutes ago, Tiger337 said:

Another injury which nobody is talking about is Meadows.  Everybody was complaining about him and saying that he sucked, but he was an excellent defender and he hit a lot better than half their line-up is hitting now.  Their offense and defense was a lot better before all the injuries. 

Concur that he theoretically would be on a star trajectory if he hadn't been injured in 2025.  

[Tiger337]

43 minutes ago, gehringer_2 said:

but Meadows was never more than a provisional member of the 26. It was probably at least 50/50 he would hit himself off the team. Of course in retrospect once Carpenter went down he probably would have stayed weak bat or no.

He was starting at the beginning of the season and had a OPS of .641.  His lifetime OPS is .691.  He is also an excellent defender.  Who was going ro replace him if sent down?  I think we found out the answer to that.  

[gehringer_2]

2 hours ago, Tiger337 said:

He was starting at the beginning of the season and had a OPS of .641.  His lifetime OPS is .691.  He is also an excellent defender.  Who was going ro replace him if sent down?  I think we found out the answer to that.  

IF we didn't have a platoon manic manager and Parker had failed to hit Vierling would have gotten more AB against RHP, or other scenarios are possible. If Wenceel had been left at Toledo and torn it up there they might have made the swap - which likely would have failed but Wenceel might still have gotten a look. It doesn't need repeating the you can't really game out the negative of a scenario - but there are always possibilities. In fact when Parker went down, wasn't Clark still on a tear? So toss that out into the possibility pool.

Of course right now 641 would look pretty good! I suppose it tends to get lost in all the negatives of last September's collapse, but Parker was actually not part of the problem - 723 OPS for Sept 2025.

[IdahoBert]

All this platooning and playing the numbers is something you do when you don’t have good players.

After the deadline deals in 2024 when everyone expected a true collapse, the miracle of the team’s rebound was like getting high on sniffing glue or gold paint. It’s great until it isn’t.

The collapse at the end of last year was a signature moment. Whatever was happening there, dumb luck or motivation, God only knows, all that played itself out.

Add to that the spate of inexplicably ill-timed injuries this season, I think all we can bet on is good luck: balls going into the gaps instead of being hit right at somebody that kind of stuff. I guess it could happen. It might happen this series. Hopefully the kids on the farm will turn things around the next few years.