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Can Tigs Make A Postseason Run? · Tiger Territory: A Detroit Tigers Podcast

0:06
Speaker 1: And welcome to another episode of Tiger's Territory.
0:10
Speaker 2: Eight.
0:10
Speaker 1: I guess I'm with me as always, the man who
0:13
Speaker 1: has paid more than his pair share of tourist taxes.
0:15
Speaker 3: In the city of Cleveland.
0:17
Speaker 4: And how you doing?
0:21
Speaker 3: Hey? Doing all right? Kien? One sixty two? Man, It's
0:24
Speaker 3: it's over. This was a long one. This was a
0:26
Speaker 3: wild one. I maybe the wildest season I've covered, or
0:30
Speaker 3: maybe the most challenging season I've covered, other than probably
0:33
Speaker 3: twenty twenty two, which was a flop and covered a
0:36
Speaker 3: regime change. This one didn't have any of that, but
0:39
Speaker 3: it had a lot of drama, a terrific start, a
0:42
Speaker 3: brutal finish, and it kind of all led you to
0:46
Speaker 3: a pretty similar place, which is the Wildcard round. Facing
0:49
Speaker 3: the Cleveland Guardians. Series starts Tuesday. Tigers have a chance
0:54
Speaker 3: to kind of wipe this late clean and see if
0:56
Speaker 3: they can make a little run here. I don't know,
0:57
Speaker 3: this is still a team that has its problems, But
1:00
Speaker 3: like we've said for a while, I don't know a
1:02
Speaker 3: three game series you have Church Scoogle on the mound.
1:04
Speaker 3: I wouldn't count out the Tigers a little bit of
1:08
Speaker 3: a playoff run in some former fashion would only be
1:10
Speaker 3: more fitting for what has been quite the season.
1:14
Speaker 1: Yeah, if last year they were the gritty Tigs, this
1:18
Speaker 1: year maybe they're the fully capable tags not necessarily gonna
1:22
Speaker 1: do it or you know, feel good.
1:23
Speaker 3: People have called them something else that rhymes with idy times.
1:28
Speaker 1: Look there, you know there. It's a disappointing way to
1:32
Speaker 1: get here. But the bottom line is they are in
1:33
Speaker 1: the postseason. Yes, you gotta go on the road, and
1:38
Speaker 1: you also, like the franchisees accomplished something that has not
1:41
Speaker 1: happened since Cody and I were in college. So like
1:43
Speaker 1: all these things are true, and you can still feel
1:46
Speaker 1: disappointment with the way that it played out. Tigers finished
1:50
Speaker 1: with a eighty seven and seventy five record in the season,
1:55
Speaker 1: obviously get the last wild card spot. A little bit
1:58
Speaker 1: of drama today, nothing crazy. You know, they had to
2:00
Speaker 1: lead the hobby home run Cleveland's up winning an extra
2:03
Speaker 1: endings against the Rangers, so it would not have mattered. Well,
2:05
Speaker 1: we'll get to a little bit of that here in
2:08
Speaker 1: a second. But Saturday was one of those kind of
2:12
Speaker 1: like gritty Tigs days. If we're being honest, you know,
2:15
Speaker 1: you have everything to play for and you get down,
2:21
Speaker 1: you have. I mean, Montero was definitely a part of
2:23
Speaker 1: the Gritty Tigs, you know story in twenty twenty four.
2:26
Speaker 1: He's on the mound, he gives you everything he has.
2:29
Speaker 1: You got get down, You have the random guy in
2:33
Speaker 1: this case Jamaia Jones, deliver, deliver the base hit, and
2:37
Speaker 1: then just extremely aggressive base running to get that go
2:40
Speaker 1: ahead run across, and then you have will Vest close
2:43
Speaker 1: it out, you know, And I mean that was twenty
2:45
Speaker 1: twenty four Tigs. That's how they clinched the that's how
2:48
Speaker 1: they got, you know, to be the Gritty Tigs. But
2:52
Speaker 1: it did feel different obviously doing it this year as
2:55
Speaker 1: opposed to last year. Just like watching this team and
2:58
Speaker 1: then also watching how they react to stuff and what
3:03
Speaker 1: I'm talking about, especially total sen I don't know if
3:04
Speaker 1: you knew that they clinched a playoff spot when he
3:06
Speaker 1: recorded that last out at first base. And then you
3:09
Speaker 1: get a little bit of the celebration. Of course, beer
3:12
Speaker 1: celebrations are beer celebrations. No matter how you got there,
3:15
Speaker 1: they'll just kind of look the same. But from your perspective,
3:18
Speaker 1: you you know, you were there. You talk to these
3:20
Speaker 1: guys before and after, you've been a part of you know,
3:23
Speaker 1: you've seen this run up close the entire season. What
3:28
Speaker 1: would you kind of say were it comes to mind
3:32
Speaker 1: where it's like twenty twenty four versus twenty twenty five,
3:34
Speaker 1: this team getting to the wildcard round on the last
3:37
Speaker 1: spot too.
3:39
Speaker 3: Yeah, obviously very different journeys, There different personalities to the celebrations.
3:47
Speaker 3: You know. Twenty twenty four was like I've used the
3:49
Speaker 3: word Catharsis like it was. It was no one expects
3:52
Speaker 3: him to be. There is this young team that did
3:53
Speaker 3: something incredible and snapped a decade long playoff ter out,
3:56
Speaker 3: and it was it was a pretty lit celebration. Twenty
4:01
Speaker 3: twenty five we all know the story how they got there.
4:04
Speaker 3: You mentioned the twork thing, but hey, will Vest was
4:06
Speaker 3: pretty fired up and some of the people that the
4:08
Speaker 3: trainers in the dugout were like really getting loose. I
4:12
Speaker 3: didn't know what the celebration would be like. I thought
4:14
Speaker 3: it might be a little subdued. By the time I
4:17
Speaker 3: got in the clubhouse, guys were already drenched, So I
4:20
Speaker 3: don't know, but I was like, all right, this is
4:22
Speaker 3: this is kind of tame. This seems appropriate, like they're
4:24
Speaker 3: you know, they're enjoying themselves or whatever. And then I
4:27
Speaker 3: don't know, you gave a bunch of twenty something dudes
4:30
Speaker 3: a bunch of beer and cranked up the music a
4:32
Speaker 3: little bit. It got pretty turt man. It got you know,
4:35
Speaker 3: in a very small Finway clubhouse. That probably contributed to it.
4:40
Speaker 3: It almost rivaled last year in terms of the excitement,
4:43
Speaker 3: the amount of fun guys were having. I got doused, man,
4:47
Speaker 3: Jake Rogers got me really good. I'm trying to stay
4:50
Speaker 3: on the edge, stay dry. That didn't That didn't work
4:52
Speaker 3: out West Texas, right, So, I don't know. They enjoyed
4:57
Speaker 3: themselves in a way. I think it was a release
4:59
Speaker 3: and a relief given the path that they took, given
5:02
Speaker 3: how stressful this past month must have been. So I'm
5:07
Speaker 3: not gonna say it was subdued by the end of it.
5:10
Speaker 3: Like it was a pretty legit celebration. If you just
5:14
Speaker 3: want me to get on my mind no longer in
5:17
Speaker 3: my twenties, soapbox. I don't know, man, Like this idea
5:20
Speaker 3: of hangover games, you know, we wouldn't be arguing, Oh,
5:23
Speaker 3: should Alex scuore have managed like this? Or should a J.
5:26
Speaker 3: Hinch have done this? We just didn't have hangover games
5:28
Speaker 3: like maybe saved the celebration for after one sixty two,
5:32
Speaker 3: when everyone has an off day the next day, I
5:34
Speaker 3: guess means which you know, I don't love being the
5:37
Speaker 3: hungover on an airplane, but I don't know, you're so
5:41
Speaker 3: hungover that half the team can't play the next day
5:44
Speaker 3: Like that almost seems kind of silly, especially when you
5:48
Speaker 3: talk about playing the one sixty two and there's something
5:50
Speaker 3: still at stake. Nothing really ended up mattering Sunday, so
5:53
Speaker 3: it's kind of wasted breath. But I don't know, I
5:56
Speaker 3: think we should eliminate the idea of the hangover game.
5:58
Speaker 3: Maybe you save the cellelebration for the actual end of
6:01
Speaker 3: the season.
6:03
Speaker 1: A counterpoint, what are we talking about here? It's young
6:07
Speaker 1: twenty somethings. They can't They can't play a baseball game hungover,
6:10
Speaker 1: just like literally every other literally every other athlete and
6:14
Speaker 1: young twenty something.
6:15
Speaker 3: I was flying Sunday, but I had a few beers
6:17
Speaker 3: Friday night and Saturday. I wouldn't call it a hangover game.
6:19
Speaker 3: But you know, I just take a couple of ad bilu.
6:24
Speaker 1: And also, but I'm also a big believer, because you know,
6:27
Speaker 1: you had a little bit of criticism. It's like, you know,
6:29
Speaker 1: this team really shouldn't be like celebrating like that or
6:31
Speaker 1: whatever on accent.
6:33
Speaker 4: You still made an accomplishment.
6:35
Speaker 1: I said this the same thing about the Rangers when
6:37
Speaker 1: they you know, got clinched their postseason birth is like,
6:41
Speaker 1: still celebrate they still had something at stake in the
6:43
Speaker 1: final day. Still celebrate it because you got here. Like,
6:46
Speaker 1: it's too long of a season. It takes too much,
6:48
Speaker 1: it's too much of a toll, it's too much of
6:49
Speaker 1: a sacrifice to not get to not enjoy the moments
6:52
Speaker 1: you're supposed to enjoy.
6:53
Speaker 4: So that's that's my opinion.
6:54
Speaker 1: If you want to do the after one sixty two thing,
6:56
Speaker 1: you're gonna have to like have Major League Baseball like
6:58
Speaker 1: pushback the postseason start maybe three or four days, which
7:02
Speaker 1: I don't know if they are.
7:03
Speaker 4: Interested in doing that.
7:06
Speaker 1: And actually I wanted to bring back to Hobby real
7:08
Speaker 1: quick because yeah, he had, first of all, right in
7:13
Speaker 1: tune with Cora with the send, you know, like he yeah,
7:16
Speaker 1: baseball instincts of course, you know, top notch for Bias
7:19
Speaker 1: and a great slide to boot didn't necessarily need it.
7:23
Speaker 3: That was the fastest sprint speed Hobby Bias has reached
7:26
Speaker 3: all year twenty nine point three feet per second when
7:30
Speaker 3: it mattered most dude found another year.
7:34
Speaker 1: And then also that catch he made on Saturday might
7:41
Speaker 1: have been Obviously it was early in the game.
7:44
Speaker 4: Blah blah, I know it's different.
7:46
Speaker 1: Might have been the playoff clinching play, you know what
7:49
Speaker 1: I mean, Like like like a lot of stuff doesn't
7:51
Speaker 1: matter after that if he doesn't get to that ball potentially,
7:54
Speaker 1: so give him a lot of credit. Then he hits
7:56
Speaker 1: the home run that at that time could have been
7:58
Speaker 1: the Al Central winning home run. Obviously did not work
8:02
Speaker 1: out that way, but it gets repetitive, but it is
8:06
Speaker 1: still worth noting when you get good, healthy hobby bayas
8:12
Speaker 1: it is impactful for your baseball team. And several examples,
8:15
Speaker 1: like all phases right there, we saw this weekend.
8:17
Speaker 3: All the last few days, man a couple opposite field
8:20
Speaker 3: RBI knocks in two of these games, like hobby was
8:25
Speaker 3: an important contributor at the most important time of your season,
8:28
Speaker 3: and I wrote about it. But the splits, I didn't
8:31
Speaker 3: know how drastic they were until I went and looked
8:34
Speaker 3: right before I wrote the story. An eight fifteen ohbs
8:37
Speaker 3: in wins and at four forty ops in losses wild.
8:42
Speaker 3: This team literally has gone as Hobby Bias has gone.
8:45
Speaker 3: A great first half, a horrendous second half. I wrote
8:49
Speaker 3: more about this on The Athletic, but like, yeah, really
8:54
Speaker 3: a microcosm of this team and its season. This guy
8:58
Speaker 3: was one hundred and forty million dollars work stop, turned
9:01
Speaker 3: bench player, turned center fielder, turned all these things, didn't
9:05
Speaker 3: play much all September, came up real big for you man,
9:09
Speaker 3: when it mattered most. That catch, that was a nasty catch.
9:12
Speaker 3: Abby said, I acted like a center fielder. So it's
9:16
Speaker 3: worth wondering, Like, if not for a little outfield four a,
9:19
Speaker 3: does he even go go get that ball, you know,
9:21
Speaker 3: without kind of reinvigorating his outfield instincts earlier this year.
9:26
Speaker 3: I think that's worth wondering. I think I have no
9:28
Speaker 3: clue if Hobby can continue this in the postseason. I
9:31
Speaker 3: don't know if Hobby will play against right handed pitching
9:34
Speaker 3: in the postseason, but he certainly made a strong case
9:36
Speaker 3: for himself over these past few days. Love of them,
9:39
Speaker 3: hate him, you know, cheer for him, get frustrated by him.
9:42
Speaker 3: This guy does some things that most guys on your
9:44
Speaker 3: team just cannot do.
9:47
Speaker 4: Yeah, and also.
9:49
Speaker 1: It seems like kind of a lame thing to give
9:51
Speaker 1: credit for, but just multiple examples of just how hard
9:55
Speaker 1: he plays. Like you talked about the sprint speed there,
9:58
Speaker 1: the fact that even got to that ball. I mean
10:00
Speaker 1: there was no there, There was nothing catching him, you know,
10:04
Speaker 1: it was it was as soon as he left it
10:06
Speaker 1: was going to be base playing into.
10:08
Speaker 4: The ground ball or not. There was no reserve in him.
10:11
Speaker 1: And you gotta give a guy credit for doing that
10:13
Speaker 1: and realizing the impact of what this play could mean.
10:17
Speaker 3: You couldn't one on your baseball team next year.
10:19
Speaker 4: Jan He's on my baseball team next year.
10:22
Speaker 1: I mean that's how I look at it until until
10:25
Speaker 1: someone proves it gives me more information about that not
10:29
Speaker 1: being a possibility. I'm not entertaining any other thoughts, if
10:34
Speaker 1: that makes sense.
10:35
Speaker 3: Yeah, given the fact I don't know what better option
10:38
Speaker 3: you have a shortstop, and I don't think I think
10:40
Speaker 3: McGonagall can play some short I don't think it's gonna
10:42
Speaker 3: be every day. And given the fact Hobby can show
10:45
Speaker 3: he's played in center field and face at Parker Meadows
10:49
Speaker 3: hasn't been that good since he got back, there may
10:51
Speaker 3: be some question marks there. Like I think the versatile
10:53
Speaker 3: version of Hobby will probably have a roster spot.
10:57
Speaker 4: You can find yous for that. I believe.
10:59
Speaker 1: All right, we are going to take a quick break,
11:02
Speaker 1: and then afterward we're each going to give a prediction
11:05
Speaker 1: about who will be the starting pitcher for the Tigers
11:07
Speaker 1: in Game one, and then we'll also talk about Game
11:09
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12:14
Speaker 1: All right, coming back here. I think the Tigers are
12:16
Speaker 1: going to put Tich School on the bump in game one,
12:19
Speaker 1: so game.
12:23
Speaker 4: Uh safe. I don't think they offered that one.
12:26
Speaker 1: I don't think they want to give away the pennies
12:27
Speaker 1: that it would take to give get to cash that ticket.
12:31
Speaker 1: Game two, though, is interesting because lost Loston, you know,
12:35
Speaker 1: clinching on Saturday, and this kind of weird stuff with Sunday.
12:39
Speaker 4: Is that Casey Myz pitched one hell of a.
12:42
Speaker 1: Game at Fenway Park on Friday night for the whole
12:45
Speaker 1: world to see digitally on Apple TV. Uh, definitely deserving
12:51
Speaker 1: of of a win.
12:52
Speaker 4: You know what I mean?
12:53
Speaker 5: He was.
12:53
Speaker 1: He was phenomenal. It's great to watch Jack Flaherty though,
12:58
Speaker 1: is the veteran. He just went through the whole postseason
13:01
Speaker 1: run last year with the Dodgers. He's got a ring
13:03
Speaker 1: that means something. And I'll just give the stats against
13:07
Speaker 1: the Guardians this season for each guy. My seventeen point
13:11
Speaker 1: one innings against the Guardians this season a two point
13:14
Speaker 1: oh eight ERA eighteen k's and four walks. Flarity sixteen
13:18
Speaker 1: innings three point eight four ERA and eighteen k's as well,
13:24
Speaker 1: and excuse me, three point nine four ERA eighteen k's
13:26
Speaker 1: as well with seven walks. So I say that your intuition,
13:32
Speaker 1: what you've watched these guys all year?
13:33
Speaker 4: What do you think?
13:35
Speaker 3: I don't know how long have we been talking about
13:38
Speaker 3: the question who's your game two starter? This was back
13:40
Speaker 3: when we thought the Tigers We're just gonna walk into
13:43
Speaker 3: the Alds. You have two guys who have pitched better recently,
13:49
Speaker 3: which you have to feel good about. Miz in particular,
13:51
Speaker 3: I think has been really good lately. So I would
13:54
Speaker 3: almost lean toward Casey Mies. Flarity is going to have
13:58
Speaker 3: one more day of rest, though I almost wonder if
14:00
Speaker 3: you just don't announce it until after game one. If
14:03
Speaker 3: you win game one, maybe keep everyone in line Jack
14:06
Speaker 3: game two, Casey game three. But if you were to
14:09
Speaker 3: lose game one, that schoogle start. Although the difference between
14:13
Speaker 3: Miz and Flarity might be marginal, I personally would lean
14:16
Speaker 3: a little bit more toward Casey Miz. If that's an
14:18
Speaker 3: elimination game, Flarity will see. I mean, the Tigers had
14:22
Speaker 3: him go out to the bullpen in that Saturday game.
14:25
Speaker 3: He didn't start throwing, but he was. He was up
14:28
Speaker 3: and running. I guess that would have maybe replaced what
14:31
Speaker 3: would have been his normal bullpens. So I don't know
14:33
Speaker 3: if that would have altered his rest. It didn't come
14:35
Speaker 3: to fruition. He didn't enter that game, but it does
14:38
Speaker 3: make you wonder if they have some different plans for
14:42
Speaker 3: Jack Flaherty and are open to using him in different ways.
14:46
Speaker 3: So I don't know, but that's kind of my sense.
14:50
Speaker 3: I think maybe let's just leave that TBA see what
14:52
Speaker 3: happens game one.
14:55
Speaker 1: So many scenarios I go through my head. It's like
14:57
Speaker 1: if you start one of them and you're like pressed
15:00
Speaker 1: in the fourth inning, do you bring the other one
15:03
Speaker 1: in and then and then and then you just and
15:07
Speaker 1: then you gotta you know, don't use Melton.
15:10
Speaker 3: That you would probably using that spot would be like
15:12
Speaker 3: a Melton. And if you don't use Melton, you got
15:15
Speaker 3: Melton for Game three and it's a heavy left handed lineup.
15:18
Speaker 3: We can't forget that. I'll be interested to see in
15:21
Speaker 3: a lot of other ways what the Tigers do with
15:23
Speaker 3: their playoff roster. Are they going to bring Bailey Horn
15:26
Speaker 3: up for like a you know, Chris Paddo's probably gonna
15:29
Speaker 3: be gone. You gotta cut from twenty eight to twenty six,
15:31
Speaker 3: think Paddock and Tanner, Rainey are Aucia. Would you bring
15:35
Speaker 3: up a Bailey Horn for a Paul Seawald That would
15:38
Speaker 3: require caring about handedness, but you know he did pitch
15:42
Speaker 3: Paul Sewald on Sunday. Bring in hand if he's been
15:45
Speaker 3: one of your best relievers all year, But are you
15:47
Speaker 3: going to be able to get him in the game
15:49
Speaker 3: against the lefty heavy guardians. I'm not sure. So is
15:52
Speaker 3: hand I feel on this roster. I'm not sure. I
15:56
Speaker 3: think those are kind of the decisions Washington general. You know,
15:59
Speaker 3: the Tigers will carry at least eleven, probably twelve pitchers,
16:03
Speaker 3: but would they go like eleven and fifteen, Like that
16:07
Speaker 3: would be pretty drastic, but not in a three game series,
16:09
Speaker 3: not completely outside their own possibility. Yeah.
16:13
Speaker 1: Well, AJ talked about how you know he's gonna be
16:19
Speaker 1: like before game, before Sunday's game, how like, you know,
16:23
Speaker 1: late night, early morning, you know, trying to figure out
16:26
Speaker 1: like what the plan would be. I imagine that will
16:29
Speaker 1: continue into Sunday night into Monday morning, which which actually,
16:34
Speaker 1: you know, if we can backtrack here for a second,
16:37
Speaker 1: it was something that was a part of the storylines today.
16:39
Speaker 4: Cody was the way AJ managed that game. There was.
16:45
Speaker 1: There was a pocket of time where a division championship
16:50
Speaker 1: was in the cards. The Reguardians were down by multiple
16:53
Speaker 1: runs the Tigers, you know, I had taken the lead
16:56
Speaker 1: and they were down one. Yeah, like everything was in
17:02
Speaker 1: the remal possibility and now, of course Guardians win. It
17:05
Speaker 1: turns out to be Nolan void, but at the time
17:09
Speaker 1: it was I would say a rather strange thing to
17:13
Speaker 1: witness that it's a situation where you would pitch it
17:22
Speaker 1: this is a situation I'm not sure, you're going to
17:25
Speaker 1: this guy out of the bullpen here, you see what
17:27
Speaker 1: I'm saying.
17:28
Speaker 4: So you talked to AJ.
17:30
Speaker 1: Before and afterward, and again it ended up not mattering,
17:34
Speaker 1: but it wasn't necessarily like the greatest look the whole time.
17:41
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's kind of a hard one. And a James
17:44
Speaker 3: before the game, I feel like he kind of said, like,
17:46
Speaker 3: you know, he had his pitching plan, but he said
17:48
Speaker 3: he would he was going to be watching the out
17:50
Speaker 3: of town scoreboard, and granted the Guardians were only down one.
17:54
Speaker 3: I understand why AJ managed the pitching the way he did.
17:57
Speaker 3: I don't think you want to mess with any arms
17:58
Speaker 3: in that sort of scenario. Obviously you're not gonna get
18:01
Speaker 3: the Trek Schooble, but even the middle innings, Like, I
18:04
Speaker 3: get why you wouldn't be aggressive. I get why he
18:08
Speaker 3: wasn't tinkering with the lineup. Come the ninth inning though,
18:11
Speaker 3: when you got runners on bass, he left Andy Ybania
18:13
Speaker 3: Is in to face a righty and he ended up
18:15
Speaker 3: getting a hit. But then you had Jake Rodgers up.
18:18
Speaker 3: Jake Rodgers had already grounded it into a double play
18:20
Speaker 3: and punched that game twice, And to be honest, Jake's
18:24
Speaker 3: barely played in a long long time. You had Rightley
18:26
Speaker 3: Green on the bench, even if you just wanted to
18:29
Speaker 3: sub him out for another Wrighty, that would have I think,
18:32
Speaker 3: given you had a chance at the time to win
18:35
Speaker 3: the division, two guys on bass, I feel like that
18:38
Speaker 3: would have made sense to make a move. I asked
18:40
Speaker 3: aj about it after the game, and he kind of
18:42
Speaker 3: talked about the downstream effects. He didn't necessarily elaborate, but
18:47
Speaker 3: I think you can think of a few things. There's
18:49
Speaker 3: a world where the Tigers go to extra innings. He
18:51
Speaker 3: had Montero up, but extra like, I don't know, that
18:54
Speaker 3: would kind of be a nightmare for your pitching. Also, guys,
18:57
Speaker 3: he said, everyone except Jami Jones had the day off,
19:00
Speaker 3: like he was not going to put them in. Whether
19:02
Speaker 3: they're dealing with something physical, whether they just need a breather,
19:06
Speaker 3: like a Riley Green, that was his philosophy. I don't know.
19:11
Speaker 3: I don't know. I don't love the look of it.
19:13
Speaker 3: I don't have a fault with how he managed the game,
19:15
Speaker 3: but the ninth inning with two runners on, pinch hitting
19:18
Speaker 3: for Jake Rogers with the chance to win the division,
19:21
Speaker 3: seems to me like that would make sense. That would
19:23
Speaker 3: mean putting in Dingler, you know, haven't. I don't know
19:26
Speaker 3: if Dylan Zingler can't catch one more inning at this
19:28
Speaker 3: point after as much as I've used him, I'm not sure.
19:32
Speaker 3: But I think part of the reason was he was
19:34
Speaker 3: cautious is because AJ Hnsch has seen a lot of
19:36
Speaker 3: baseball and knows how these things go. And I don't
19:39
Speaker 3: know that he knew the Guardians would come back, or
19:41
Speaker 3: that the Guardians would go to extra innings, or that
19:43
Speaker 3: the Guardians would then win and walk off fashion, but
19:46
Speaker 3: that's what happens, so none of it ultimately matters. Also
19:51
Speaker 3: kind of fitting for the twenty twenty five Detroit Tigers.
19:55
Speaker 1: Sure, And then a lot of AJ topics here, but
19:59
Speaker 1: we we we did get the Sunday morning roll out,
20:04
Speaker 1: the Sunday morning rollout of Bob Nightingale, you know, news
20:08
Speaker 1: and notes basically from around the league, and there's a
20:11
Speaker 1: section in there about the Houston Astros and what they
20:14
Speaker 1: might be doing, and then A J. Hinch's name is
20:18
Speaker 1: kind of just floated a little bit. And also it
20:24
Speaker 1: is believed that he will receive a contract extension, restructure
20:29
Speaker 1: or whatever once the season is over. It was hit
20:33
Speaker 1: I had been in the works, but didn't make sense
20:35
Speaker 1: when you're having a historically bad September to do that.
20:40
Speaker 4: Oh it makes sense.
20:41
Speaker 1: Good good on the Tigers for being good with optics
20:43
Speaker 1: in this particular situation.
20:45
Speaker 4: But we've done this drama.
20:49
Speaker 3: Before, Cody or.
20:54
Speaker 4: What we got, We've done this before.
21:00
Speaker 3: Why is he in a contract extension and there's under contract? Like,
21:03
Speaker 3: I guess ay James love this because he doesn't want
21:06
Speaker 3: the world to know about his contract and things would
21:09
Speaker 3: be a lot easier if if it were just a
21:11
Speaker 3: little more clear. But I guess maybe there's some weird
21:13
Speaker 3: sort of leverage involved here. The understanding was always that
21:17
Speaker 3: his initial contract with the Tigers ran through twenty twenty five,
21:21
Speaker 3: so that's the end of this year. But two years
21:23
Speaker 3: ago he received an extension two inter meetings ago, so
21:27
Speaker 3: that would seem to indicate that he's already under contract,
21:30
Speaker 3: and that was a quote long term extension. So why
21:35
Speaker 3: is he getting another contract extension if he's already under
21:38
Speaker 3: a long term extension. I don't know. Makes me think
21:41
Speaker 3: maybe this is a money play. Makes me wonder if
21:44
Speaker 3: this came from an agent, because aj did sign that
21:47
Speaker 3: contract before Crik council signed up a record contract and
21:51
Speaker 3: before Alex Korra signed a lucrative deal. Maybe there's just
21:55
Speaker 3: leverage to try to restructure that deal get a little
21:57
Speaker 3: more money. I don't know if there was some sort
21:59
Speaker 3: of opt out there. The Astros thing is always going
22:02
Speaker 3: to serve as leverage for AJ Hinch, I do. I
22:07
Speaker 3: don't know. I think, just knowing Aj, this is just
22:10
Speaker 3: my belief there's a part of him that would like
22:13
Speaker 3: the poetic aspect of one day going back to Houston,
22:17
Speaker 3: whether that's the manager or perhaps in another role. But
22:21
Speaker 3: I don't know. If now's the time. The Astros didn't
22:23
Speaker 3: make the postseason, they have probably one of the game's
22:27
Speaker 3: worst five farm systems. Tigers made the postseason back to
22:31
Speaker 3: back years, have one of the game's five best farm systems.
22:36
Speaker 3: I'm sure AJ would like the Tigers to be a
22:38
Speaker 3: little more aggressive in terms of procuring talent and trying
22:42
Speaker 3: to win at the major league level, But this is
22:44
Speaker 3: a pretty good situation Houston. Jim Crane is an aggressive owner,
22:48
Speaker 3: But you don't the timing would seem weird to leave
22:51
Speaker 3: the Tigers for the Astros. Right now, this feels to
22:54
Speaker 3: me like a leverage play. I don't know where it's
22:56
Speaker 3: coming from. I don't have any real insight beyond that.
23:01
Speaker 3: At this point, there's like the third time we've dealt
23:03
Speaker 3: with this weird aj Hinch contract speculation. I'm just kind
23:06
Speaker 3: of like, okay, like I'm a little bit over it.
23:10
Speaker 4: Yeah, I have much to add there.
23:12
Speaker 1: Things leak for a reason, Like I always say, so,
23:15
Speaker 1: figure out who it benefits for that stuff to leak,
23:17
Speaker 1: and then you can kind of piece it together yourself.
23:19
Speaker 4: My general advice for all this stuff.
23:22
Speaker 1: All right, we are going to take a quick break
23:25
Speaker 1: and then afterward we're gonna kind of tear and group
23:28
Speaker 1: together several guys on this Tigers team in terms of
23:32
Speaker 1: the postseason and kind of what's at stake, you know,
23:35
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24:41
Speaker 1: All right, coming back here, I was trying to think
24:44
Speaker 1: about like who's got like who's got some legacy at
24:47
Speaker 1: stake on this team? And the beauty of the postseason
24:50
Speaker 1: is that everybody on that roster and theory has an
24:54
Speaker 1: opportunity to cement themselves some sort of legacy or make
24:58
Speaker 1: them have some you know, some memorable in some way,
25:01
Speaker 1: live forever in a way.
25:03
Speaker 4: And you know.
25:04
Speaker 1: Baseball history is full of examples of this. Uh So
25:08
Speaker 1: that's one of the things I look forward to every
25:10
Speaker 1: year in the baseball postseason.
25:12
Speaker 4: So we've been talking about money.
25:13
Speaker 1: I have a category here of it's called what that's
25:17
Speaker 1: what the money's for. And it's like, guys that, like
25:20
Speaker 1: you were brought here for a specific reason, and that
25:23
Speaker 1: was to you know, be at the front of a rebuild,
25:27
Speaker 1: to help end a rebuild technically, or to you know,
25:30
Speaker 1: get this team to another level. So, like I have
25:33
Speaker 1: talked about him a lot hobby bias, like you were built,
25:36
Speaker 1: you were brought here to make this team a winner,
25:39
Speaker 1: and and he did not. He did not participate in
25:43
Speaker 1: last year's postseason. So like, this is your first opportunity
25:47
Speaker 1: as a Tiger to contribute to postseason success for the
25:50
Speaker 1: franchise that that you know signed you to that big
25:53
Speaker 1: contract and a number of years ago. Casey Mice, same
25:57
Speaker 1: thing drafted obviously in him in the same sense, but
26:02
Speaker 1: he was drafted and brought here number one overall, not
26:05
Speaker 1: you know, not cheap contract either, obviously number one pick
26:09
Speaker 1: to be to pitch in a potential Game two of
26:13
Speaker 1: a playoff series. Right, this is exactly what he was
26:17
Speaker 1: brought in for. Same thing with Torque another you know
26:20
Speaker 1: Mayes also did not participate in last year's postseason.
26:22
Speaker 4: Torque didn't participate, didn't do anything of note.
26:25
Speaker 1: But again number one overall pick brought here for moments
26:27
Speaker 1: like this, Tommy Kinley seven whatever million dollars on a contract.
26:32
Speaker 1: That's what the money's for. You gotta be useful. This
26:35
Speaker 1: season was a roller coaster for him. But we'll see.
26:38
Speaker 1: Flaherty speaks for itself. Brought in here after winning a
26:41
Speaker 1: World Series to get this team to the next level.
26:44
Speaker 1: And labor Taurus falls in that category. And for him specifically,
26:48
Speaker 1: it's like he's playing for a contract and we all
26:51
Speaker 1: know that having a postseason moment or two can help
26:53
Speaker 1: inflate your salary demand a little bit.
26:56
Speaker 4: So that's that category. What do you think about those
26:57
Speaker 4: guys being kind of grouped together like that.
27:00
Speaker 3: I think labor Tourist should have his agent like leak
27:03
Speaker 3: that the Houston Asters won him or something, because he's
27:06
Speaker 3: he's been cost himself a lot of money. I think
27:09
Speaker 3: Glaby's been great, he just hasn't had a very good
27:11
Speaker 3: second half. No, those guys all have something at stake.
27:15
Speaker 3: Everyone has something at stake here, you know, I mean
27:18
Speaker 3: Trek Scoogle, you talk about legacy. This is a proud
27:21
Speaker 3: guy who's getting the ball with the game on the
27:24
Speaker 3: line again, with the season on the line. Again. It
27:27
Speaker 3: didn't work out in his favor last year. I think
27:30
Speaker 3: there's a lot of legacy at stake in school. Will
27:32
Speaker 3: be someone who puts the team on his back and
27:34
Speaker 3: wilds them a couple of rounds into the playoffs or more.
27:38
Speaker 3: That's certainly worth considering. I don't know, like Riley Green
27:44
Speaker 3: is still young. He just turned twenty five like today,
27:47
Speaker 3: I think, but you know, he's bored the brunt of
27:50
Speaker 3: criticism from the fan base this year. He's already had
27:53
Speaker 3: a couple of years service time under his belt. These
27:56
Speaker 3: guys kind of grow up quick. How is Riley Green's
27:59
Speaker 3: time into Troit going to be remembered? Well, if he
28:02
Speaker 3: has a heck of a postseason, gets a big swing
28:04
Speaker 3: or two, that's that's gonna do. Wonders for the public
28:07
Speaker 3: approval rating, you know. So those are a couple of
28:11
Speaker 3: guys who come to mind for me as well as
28:13
Speaker 3: I think the trade deadline acquisitions Kyle Finn again, Rafael Montero.
28:19
Speaker 3: That's tied to both the Scott Harris legacy and and
28:22
Speaker 3: kind of their own times in Detroit. How is that
28:25
Speaker 3: gonna play out all kind of important stakeholders for the
28:27
Speaker 3: Tigers in the postseason?
28:31
Speaker 1: Yeah, and so and I and some of those guys
28:34
Speaker 1: I also did kind of group into other other categories.
28:37
Speaker 1: So you mentioned Schooble, I have them in a category
28:40
Speaker 1: of hero for real question mark. So it's like you
28:44
Speaker 1: have another you have another opportunity to kind of you know,
28:46
Speaker 1: all those things that you said, You have another opportunity
28:48
Speaker 1: to prove you or that guy reputationally around the league. This,
28:51
Speaker 1: you know, have an opportunity to hants even more. You
28:54
Speaker 1: know what people think of you around the game. Kerry
28:57
Speaker 1: Carpenter's the guy that has he has his postseason moment,
29:00
Speaker 1: like he will live forever, no matter what happens the
29:03
Speaker 1: rest of his career, he will live forever. And Tiger's
29:05
Speaker 1: fandom for that home run off class A. But again,
29:09
Speaker 1: for real, you do it? You know, can you have
29:11
Speaker 1: can you continue to do that? Parker Meadow's had a
29:13
Speaker 1: great postseason last year Andya Bonyez had a moment. So
29:17
Speaker 1: I kind of put those guys together and like I said, like,
29:19
Speaker 1: you know, hero for real, and then you mentioned Riley Green.
29:23
Speaker 1: I have him in the are you next? Category, Like
29:26
Speaker 1: in terms of like stature.
29:28
Speaker 4: In the game.
29:29
Speaker 1: You know, all start, you know, two time All Star,
29:32
Speaker 1: All Star starter, you have a near forty home run season,
29:36
Speaker 1: can you do it? And when the games matter the most?
29:39
Speaker 1: So it's like again, are you next? This is an opportunity.
29:41
Speaker 1: And same with Dylan Dingler, Like, you know, cal Raley
29:43
Speaker 1: is cal Raley, but like Dylan Ingler is a hell
29:46
Speaker 1: of a catcher too, and if he wants to kind
29:48
Speaker 1: of get, you know, into the next tier of elite
29:52
Speaker 1: American league catchers, these are the these are the these
29:54
Speaker 1: are the platforms to do so. And then I have
29:58
Speaker 1: a category of just a game question mark. These are
30:03
Speaker 1: guys that's like, you know, you hear the cliche that's
30:05
Speaker 1: like it's still baseball is still just a game. Blah
30:07
Speaker 1: blah blah. It's like, okay, well let's see, let's see
30:09
Speaker 1: if it is just a game. Zach McKinstry, by the way,
30:12
Speaker 1: last year in the postseason at one point six nine
30:15
Speaker 1: eight ops in the postseason, so uh, like you know
30:18
Speaker 1: that he had a great year this year obviously had
30:21
Speaker 1: some of the McKinstry isms, but he is definitely a
30:24
Speaker 1: guy that like if he pops, I don't know what
30:26
Speaker 1: his ops is and wins and losses or whatever, but
30:29
Speaker 1: I bet you it's a pretty decent relationship. And uh,
30:32
Speaker 1: Perez is in that category as well. It's like, all right, dude,
30:35
Speaker 1: like you you've shown some flashes. Can you do it
30:38
Speaker 1: when it matters most? And then fin again, he brought
30:40
Speaker 1: up the trade deadline acquisitions. Vegas never pitched in the postseason.
30:43
Speaker 4: Yeah, so it's.
30:45
Speaker 1: Like, you know, is it just a game? Can you
30:47
Speaker 1: can you get the leverage innings? You know, exactly what
30:50
Speaker 1: you were brought here to do? So, like after a one
30:54
Speaker 1: hundred and sixty two games in multiple years, Like it's
30:57
Speaker 1: it's fun to have a clean slate where it's like
31:00
Speaker 1: everything's under a micro microscope and we have we have
31:04
Speaker 1: we're gonna be overreacting to every little thing, and like
31:07
Speaker 1: there's so much on the line. This is where like
31:10
Speaker 1: we remember guys teams or whatever for years, it's like,
31:14
Speaker 1: how did they do in the postseason? That's so beautiful
31:17
Speaker 1: to me. I'm sorry of getting like kind of emotional
31:19
Speaker 1: about it, but it's like beautiful, It's beautiful. It's like
31:21
Speaker 1: everything's in front of you, you know what I mean,
31:23
Speaker 1: and then how we talk about it and how they're
31:24
Speaker 1: remembered like it in real time.
31:27
Speaker 4: We get to watch this. It's awesome. I love it.
31:30
Speaker 3: We're a real podcast now that we're talking about legacy.
31:33
Speaker 3: We was talking about Das legacy while we're at it.
31:36
Speaker 3: No Trek School used some of the same words you did, though,
31:38
Speaker 3: you know, he said, uh, basically talking about postseason. You know,
31:42
Speaker 3: that's when the game's at it's most beautiful, That's when
31:44
Speaker 3: it's at its most pure. And he's right. You know,
31:49
Speaker 3: I'm interested in just singing. You know, the old momentum
31:52
Speaker 3: theory is really going to be put to the test.
31:54
Speaker 3: You have probably baseball's hottest team in the Cleveland Guardians,
31:57
Speaker 3: and baseball's coldest contending team, and the Detroit Tigers. Wrote
32:02
Speaker 3: kind of a story looking at what history can tell
32:04
Speaker 3: us about that. It is interesting. I hope you guys
32:09
Speaker 3: will check this out on the Athletic. But just a
32:11
Speaker 3: quick sampling, the Tigers went seven and seventeen in September.
32:16
Speaker 3: That gives them, assuming I used Baseball Reference correctly, the
32:20
Speaker 3: worst September winning percentage of any team to ever make
32:25
Speaker 3: the playoffs. Now, obviously there was not a robust playoffs
32:29
Speaker 3: until much later in MLB history, and even now. I
32:34
Speaker 3: actually think this is important to note. When Scott Harris
32:37
Speaker 3: is gonna say, like, we've made the playoffs in back
32:39
Speaker 3: to back years and that hasn't been done in a
32:41
Speaker 3: long time, the Tigers would not have made the playoffs
32:44
Speaker 3: for one hundred and twenty plus years of baseball history.
32:47
Speaker 3: It took an expanded playoff for each of these two
32:50
Speaker 3: playoffs appearances. But anyway, you can look at how some
32:55
Speaker 3: of these teams finish. If you're watching on our own
32:57
Speaker 3: YouTube two thousand and six Cardinals and Yankees won the
33:01
Speaker 3: World Series, you know there's some other teams. These the
33:04
Speaker 3: ten teams that have had the worst Septembers and made
33:07
Speaker 3: MLB's postseason have a winning record in playoff baseball games,
33:12
Speaker 3: so it is doable. It's also worth considering the Tigers
33:16
Speaker 3: weren't just bad in September. They were bad in the
33:20
Speaker 3: entire second half. They're going to have the worst second
33:23
Speaker 3: half winning percentage of at least any team that's ever
33:27
Speaker 3: won the Pinnate, which there's only six of them. So
33:32
Speaker 3: it's possible to get into the World Series or to
33:34
Speaker 3: win the World Series with a bad September, not near
33:37
Speaker 3: as much precedent for doing that with a bad entire
33:41
Speaker 3: second half. I think that's a little bit revealing. Now
33:45
Speaker 3: if you also look at the ten best Septembers most
33:48
Speaker 3: postseason teams which the Guardians narrowly miss out when cracking
33:52
Speaker 3: that list, the grand total of zero of them have
33:55
Speaker 3: reached the World Series. So you can see some of
33:59
Speaker 3: that data in my story. The playoffs are a little
34:02
Speaker 3: bit weird. It would be unprecedented for the Tigers to
34:05
Speaker 3: make a run, but not completely unfathomable.
34:10
Speaker 4: There you go.
34:11
Speaker 1: The more you know, the less, the less you understand
34:15
Speaker 1: a baseball story.
34:16
Speaker 4: All right, it's a lot of fun.
34:18
Speaker 1: We're gonna have episodes that air after each game. We'll
34:22
Speaker 1: put them up as soon as as soon as we can,
34:24
Speaker 1: which probably be rid in time for while you're making dinner.
34:27
Speaker 1: You probably listen to us since the since the games
34:30
Speaker 1: are I think.
34:31
Speaker 3: That's what I'm most mad about, that good old one
34:33
Speaker 3: o'clock time slot. Make sure no one can watch the games.
34:37
Speaker 3: Just come on, man.
34:39
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, Boston and New York certainly we're we'ren't gonna
34:43
Speaker 1: get the the one o'clock slot. So as soon as
34:46
Speaker 1: I saw that, I was like, yep, I can guarantee
34:48
Speaker 1: you that's where the Tigers will be. And then if
34:49
Speaker 1: there's a game three, we'll see uh. So yeah, we'll
34:53
Speaker 1: have postgame shows after each game and then also you know,
34:58
Speaker 1: see if we can get Austin on the give his
35:00
Speaker 1: analysis of the playoffs as well. So, uh, looking forward
35:03
Speaker 1: to to all of it, looking forward to watching postseason
35:07
Speaker 1: baseball for the second year in a row. I will
35:09
Speaker 1: be down up in Cleveland, So if you guys see me,
35:12
Speaker 1: say hi, Uh, it's gonna it's gonna be a lot
35:15
Speaker 1: of fun. We finally made it through one hundred and
35:17
Speaker 1: sixty two games, Cody. Uh, it took a long time,
35:20
Speaker 1: but it felt really quick. So I want to thank
35:21
Speaker 1: everybody for listening along the way and continue to follow
35:24
Speaker 1: us on x formally on Twitter at coach Stapanhagen. I'm
35:27
Speaker 1: a here Unerscore, sectly pot page at Tiger Territory Underscore, YouTube, Instagram, Apple, Spotify,
35:31
Speaker 1: wherever you get your podcast, we are there.
35:33
Speaker 4: We appreciate all of you. So for Coachy Stavenhagen, I'm
35:36
Speaker 4: kir Steckley there. We have great day.