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Tigs Set Up September With Winning August · Tiger Territory: A Detroit Tigers Podcast

0:05
Speaker 1: And welcome into another episode of Tiger Territory, part of
0:08
Speaker 1: the Bull Territory Network. Hey Tucker's podcast, I'm Kierens Deckley
0:12
Speaker 1: with me as always a man who labored on Labor
0:15
Speaker 1: Day watching all those buns. He is Cody Stavenagg and
0:19
Speaker 1: how you doing.
0:20
Speaker 2: I don't like buns, but hey, I was putting in work.
0:23
Speaker 2: Got to watch some ball players putting in work on
0:25
Speaker 2: Labor Day. I like it.
0:27
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean it was a hell of an entertaining game.
0:29
Speaker 1: We're recording this, you know, shortly after the Tigers lost
0:32
Speaker 1: ten to eight to the Mets to start their three
0:35
Speaker 1: game series over there in downtown Detroit, and uh, it was.
0:40
Speaker 1: This series is gonna be a good test. We're gonna
0:42
Speaker 1: recap it more midweek. Overall, this is gonna be a
0:45
Speaker 1: good test because the Mets are obviously a good team,
0:47
Speaker 1: and any team that has Lindor followed by Soto is
0:53
Speaker 1: you know, something that you're gonna have to take seriously
0:56
Speaker 1: in the pitching plan, in the game plan, and you know,
0:59
Speaker 1: you just can't throw hanging curveballs down the middle of
1:02
Speaker 1: the plate with the bases loaded. You know. That's that's
1:06
Speaker 1: my hot take on on that specific aspect, but real quick,
1:10
Speaker 1: before we go too far in and I forget, I
1:13
Speaker 1: wanted to say on behalf of Cody, and I thought
1:16
Speaker 1: some prayers to Dan Diggerson and his family as he
1:18
Speaker 1: as he attends to a family matter, so miss having
1:22
Speaker 1: him on the broadcast. Hope him and his family are
1:24
Speaker 1: doing okay. So I wanted to wanted to say that
1:26
Speaker 1: off the top here. But Cody Labor Day Day game
1:32
Speaker 1: fun crowd, Like a lot of this was fun. I
1:34
Speaker 1: feel I feel like this was this I'm in a
1:36
Speaker 1: good move because it was a fun baseball game to watch,
1:38
Speaker 1: But you hadn't been with the team in a bit.
1:40
Speaker 1: We saw the Sacramento A's series and we talked about
1:45
Speaker 1: how it was just kind of ugly and not their
1:47
Speaker 1: brand of baseball, and then they they got back to
1:50
Speaker 1: playing their branded baseball and the crucial series against Kansas
1:53
Speaker 1: City take two or three. They finished August sixteen and twelve.
1:57
Speaker 1: So that's surviving. That's surviving. That's obviously above five hundred baseball,
2:01
Speaker 1: which we had talked about with Austin a lot so
2:04
Speaker 1: coming in and with U and with everything that's what's
2:09
Speaker 1: going on. Do you have any sort of vibe check
2:13
Speaker 1: with with these Tigers as we got into September and
2:18
Speaker 1: of what as of now is a comfortable nine game
2:21
Speaker 1: lead in the division.
2:24
Speaker 2: I'm not sure there's been any huge shift in the vibe.
2:27
Speaker 2: I think the question I'm asking myself, I think fans
2:30
Speaker 2: should be asking, like, do you feel better about this
2:32
Speaker 2: team than you did on July thirty first. I actually
2:36
Speaker 2: think that's kind of a hard question answer.
2:37
Speaker 1: Okay.
2:39
Speaker 2: The biggest concern then was the bullpen. The bullpen finished
2:42
Speaker 2: August with the second best eer in baseball. We've talked
2:47
Speaker 2: about some of the factors for a while. You were
2:49
Speaker 2: getting better starting pitching. It was a lot of Kyle Finnigan,
2:52
Speaker 2: who you should feel very good about. He was really
2:55
Speaker 2: good for you. He's yet to allow a run in
2:57
Speaker 2: the Tiger's uniform. There's a lot of Kyle Finnigan, and
3:00
Speaker 2: VEST didn't see a ton of the non leverage guys
3:03
Speaker 2: as much, especially in the first half of August. But
3:05
Speaker 2: then you take a little deeper. They were twenty fifth
3:08
Speaker 2: in FIP. They were they they're batting average in balls
3:13
Speaker 2: and play against the Tigers bullpen I was I think
3:15
Speaker 2: two nineteen, easily the lowest in baseball. I'm watching Rafael
3:19
Speaker 2: Montero has been better the last few outings, but a
3:22
Speaker 2: boy's still kind of wild man. It scares me watching him.
3:26
Speaker 1: He hasn't He.
3:27
Speaker 2: Has pitched in a couple of big spots, but what's
3:30
Speaker 2: the confidence level. I don't know. Drew Summers, who the
3:32
Speaker 2: Tigers organization had really talked up for most of July.
3:36
Speaker 2: Starting in late June, he looked too good so far,
3:40
Speaker 2: so I don't know. Tommy Kingley. He's been a little
3:42
Speaker 2: better lately, like you can kind of see the ingredients,
3:47
Speaker 2: but then you're starting pitching. The second half this month
3:50
Speaker 2: was really bad. So the starting pitching still worries me.
3:54
Speaker 2: I think the team itself, the guys, the you know, management.
3:59
Speaker 2: I think they are feeling better that they got good
4:01
Speaker 2: results from the bullpen in August, but I think everyone
4:05
Speaker 2: knows there's still some big tests ahead. I think even
4:08
Speaker 2: what is the playoff roster going to look like, it's
4:11
Speaker 2: largely going to depend on what happens this month. You
4:13
Speaker 2: have the likes of Jose Archidi still working back, Paul Sewald,
4:17
Speaker 2: who's eligible to be activated September tenth. Seems like the
4:21
Speaker 2: Tigers have staked a lot on him. Helping the bullpen. Well,
4:24
Speaker 2: he's just now throwing a live BP. I don't think
4:27
Speaker 2: he's going to be in the majors by September tenth,
4:29
Speaker 2: So how good do you feel about that timeline?
4:33
Speaker 1: And then we're going to.
4:33
Speaker 2: Keep seeing some of the cycling in and out of relievers,
4:38
Speaker 2: even other guys on the roster. We'll talk about September
4:40
Speaker 2: call ups here in just a second. You kind of
4:43
Speaker 2: still have a lot of moving parts, I think before
4:46
Speaker 2: you fully know what your team's going to look like
4:47
Speaker 2: in the playoffs. But I think the big concerns are
4:51
Speaker 2: the same. It's all about the pitching, and I would
4:54
Speaker 2: argue the starting pitching now looks like a bigger concern
4:57
Speaker 2: than it was in July. A little bit better about
5:01
Speaker 2: the bullpen, but there's still some question marks there.
5:04
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, what's kind of weird, Cody, is that
5:09
Speaker 1: for a team that's near double digits up in their
5:11
Speaker 1: division and is you know, give or take the one
5:15
Speaker 1: seed in the in their perspective league, it does really
5:20
Speaker 1: feel like a not yet formed squad. Does that make sense?
5:24
Speaker 1: Like you talked about some of the relief like the
5:27
Speaker 1: you know, the in and out relievers roles, certainly a
5:30
Speaker 1: lot of them undefined. And and even though you know
5:35
Speaker 1: you talked mainly about pitching offensively and you know, just
5:39
Speaker 1: position players, I guess like there is still some kind
5:43
Speaker 1: of fine tuning exactly how you want to attack and
5:46
Speaker 1: then anticipating how you're gonna get attacked. We saw the
5:49
Speaker 1: you know, lefty relieving a lefty today we don't see
5:52
Speaker 1: that a lot against the time, So so like, is
5:54
Speaker 1: that something that might become a little bit more of
5:57
Speaker 1: a try by opposing teams like you know, these kind
5:59
Speaker 1: of like little things. I still don't necessarily have a
6:03
Speaker 1: a grand grasp of like what I anticipate them doing.
6:08
Speaker 1: And I don't know, I like, is that almost part
6:12
Speaker 1: of me says that might be by design, like I like,
6:14
Speaker 1: or like they like the Tigers have kind of operated
6:17
Speaker 1: the past couple of years of their own normal, you
6:21
Speaker 1: see what I'm saying, Like their their their own nor
6:24
Speaker 1: their their normal is not everybody else's normal. I don't
6:26
Speaker 1: know if the Yankees podcast.
6:28
Speaker 2: Is you know, no, they're not. They do things in
6:31
Speaker 2: a non traditional manner and certainly not the way all
6:34
Speaker 2: teams do it. I think there are a few other
6:36
Speaker 2: modern teams with probably similar payrolls that do things similarly
6:40
Speaker 2: to the Tigers, but it's still i think in the minority. Yeah,
6:44
Speaker 2: so it's different.
6:46
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's different. And it's also a reflection of the
6:49
Speaker 1: luxury of having someone like Trek school, like you know,
6:53
Speaker 1: who allows you to do some of these things, and uh,
6:57
Speaker 1: you know, like his his standard of excellence is so
6:59
Speaker 1: high that like he has like one ending with a
7:02
Speaker 1: couple of ducks on the pond and people are like,
7:04
Speaker 1: you know, what's wrong with Trek Spuble. He ends up
7:07
Speaker 1: breaking Denny McClain's record for most seven editing starts with
7:12
Speaker 1: with allowing zero runs in a single season. That's pretty
7:15
Speaker 1: dank cool. I just wanted to shout out, shout out
7:17
Speaker 1: that my dad always brags about being at Denny McLain's
7:21
Speaker 1: major league debut, so so you know, you look at
7:24
Speaker 1: at MVP winners and pitchers, he's a part of that
7:27
Speaker 1: category as well. So, uh, we're going to talk about
7:30
Speaker 1: the September call ups and like how that affects what
7:35
Speaker 1: we just talked about kind of the shaping of this roster.
7:38
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8:42
Speaker 1: All right, coming back here. The news of the day,
8:45
Speaker 1: if you would, Cody, is that the Tigers use their
8:48
Speaker 1: expanded rosters slots to Technically it was to call up
8:52
Speaker 1: Chase Lee and Justin Harry molloy, but we understand that
8:57
Speaker 1: it's the headline would be Sawyer gives some long and
9:00
Speaker 1: Justin Henry malloy. I'm surprised vinc chasely today. But anyway,
9:05
Speaker 1: I was going and looking at Jay Hen's triple A
9:09
Speaker 1: stats that I hadn't looked at it in a while,
9:11
Speaker 1: and I mean credit to him. He's I would say,
9:16
Speaker 1: had a disappointing season because he was probably thinking he
9:19
Speaker 1: was going to be a major leaguer of the majority
9:20
Speaker 1: of the year, and that's you know, you go down
9:22
Speaker 1: like you gotta have the right mentality. We talk about
9:24
Speaker 1: that with Austin Jackson a lot, you know, nine thirty
9:28
Speaker 1: four ops three seventeen average, four four four on base.
9:33
Speaker 1: Like the guy did exactly what he we know him
9:38
Speaker 1: to do in Triple A, but like we have not
9:43
Speaker 1: seen him do it at the major league level. And
9:46
Speaker 1: with Andy Abanez occupying right handed at bats and Jami Jones,
9:52
Speaker 1: who will talk about occupying right handed bats versus left
9:54
Speaker 1: handed pitching, and also, if we're being honest, the emergence
9:58
Speaker 1: of Wenzel Perez as a vibe able hitter from the
10:02
Speaker 1: right side. It just like I want to see Jay
10:06
Speaker 1: Hen sixty. You and I have been I have been
10:08
Speaker 1: on Jayhn for a while. But where is it going
10:11
Speaker 1: to come? You know what I mean? That's a tough part.
10:14
Speaker 2: It's going to be hard. I think I think we'd
10:15
Speaker 2: mentioned it before. But Jay Hen's right back into the
10:18
Speaker 2: role he was when he got sent down, which is
10:21
Speaker 2: you're gonna play sparingly. You're occasionally going to get a
10:24
Speaker 2: pinch hit at bat against the other team's best left
10:27
Speaker 2: handed reliever and a big spot good luck. You know,
10:30
Speaker 2: that's a hard ask, and it makes sense, especially now
10:34
Speaker 2: when you have Andy and you have Jami playing well,
10:37
Speaker 2: hitting well. Look no further than Jay Hing gets called
10:40
Speaker 2: up one Monday and there's a lefty on the mound
10:43
Speaker 2: and he doesn't start. I think that's how it's going
10:47
Speaker 2: to be, especially if Andy and Jami Jones continue to
10:50
Speaker 2: perform well. To hear a j. Hinch explain it, it's
10:54
Speaker 2: kind of like a late game counter move, like you
10:57
Speaker 2: can pinch hit let's say Kerry Carpenter in earlier in
11:01
Speaker 2: the game, in the fifth, in the sixth, and then
11:03
Speaker 2: if that other team brings in a lefty, you still
11:05
Speaker 2: got Jay Hen because now the roster is twenty eight guys.
11:09
Speaker 2: I think that's by design. I think that's how the
11:12
Speaker 2: Tigers are often going to use him. Aj mentioned the
11:15
Speaker 2: defense components. Sometimes, when you have multiple options, you're gonna
11:18
Speaker 2: pig defense over offense. So I don't know that we're
11:22
Speaker 2: gonna see a ton a ton of jhn at bats,
11:24
Speaker 2: and the ones we do, they're gonna be a big spot.
11:27
Speaker 2: So kudos him if he's able to handle that, able
11:30
Speaker 2: to stay fresh. It almost leads like you could second
11:34
Speaker 2: guess should they even call him up if he's not
11:36
Speaker 2: going to play very often. I think the natural counter
11:40
Speaker 2: is like, Okay, well who else you call him up?
11:42
Speaker 1: How you?
11:42
Speaker 2: Lee's a guy? I thought maybe we would see I
11:44
Speaker 2: still think maybe we could see him by years in.
11:47
Speaker 2: But he's a younger guy who hasn't yet played in
11:50
Speaker 2: the big leagues. If you're gonna call him up, you
11:52
Speaker 2: probably want him getting regular at bats. That's not really
11:55
Speaker 2: gonna happen at second base or third base right now,
11:57
Speaker 2: So actually makes sense. Trey Cruz has probably putting himself
12:01
Speaker 2: on the map, and he could be a utility, super
12:04
Speaker 2: utility type. But again, you know, how confident do you
12:09
Speaker 2: feel about him hitting at the major league level or
12:12
Speaker 2: being thrown in there at shortstop. That's a big ask
12:17
Speaker 2: if you want someone who you're just not really gonna play,
12:19
Speaker 2: maybe a Keel Bado and he can pinch run for
12:21
Speaker 2: you or something like that. Clearly they are choosing this
12:25
Speaker 2: strategy of Jayhin's bat as like a late game counter move,
12:30
Speaker 2: or give them even more pinchhit options at their disposal.
12:34
Speaker 2: We'll see how that works out. But I think that's
12:37
Speaker 2: kind of the reality of the situation for Justin Henry molloy.
12:41
Speaker 1: Yeah, and weirdly it is kind of a confidence call
12:46
Speaker 1: in him. Yeah, but based on everything you just laid
12:50
Speaker 1: out there, it's kind of a confidence call in Jayhann
12:52
Speaker 1: despite you know, just not really producing so far in
12:56
Speaker 1: twenty twenty five. And then Sawyer Gibson Long. I think
12:59
Speaker 1: this one was probab probably another another reasonably expected case here.
13:04
Speaker 1: He's going to get the start on Tuesday. Is that correct?
13:07
Speaker 2: And yeah, he'll start Tuesday. I'd expect Chase Lee is
13:10
Speaker 2: probably going back down. What I'm interested to see is
13:13
Speaker 2: well Sawyer Gibson Long ago straight back down. I think
13:16
Speaker 2: Dailey Horn will be eligible to get called up if
13:19
Speaker 2: you want another lefty in there. Maybe SGL stays up
13:23
Speaker 2: for a little bit longer, but we know they're going
13:26
Speaker 2: to keep cycling this bullpen and wouldn't be shocked if
13:30
Speaker 2: this is a one start thing for Sawyer Gibson Long.
13:33
Speaker 1: I don't know, Yeah, you got it. A lot of
13:36
Speaker 1: guys on this squad probably know all the best stops
13:39
Speaker 1: between Detroit and Toledo. They probably they probably know exactly
13:43
Speaker 1: where they I'm not sure there are a lot of
13:44
Speaker 1: great ones.
13:45
Speaker 2: No offense to any down river listeners. I don't know.
13:48
Speaker 2: I don't take that route too often. Let me know
13:52
Speaker 2: where I should stop between Detroit and Toledo next time
13:54
Speaker 2: I'm coming back from a mud hints game, I'll grab
13:57
Speaker 2: a bite to eat.
13:57
Speaker 1: There, you go get the plug there. Uh. And the
14:01
Speaker 1: piece the other piece of this is, of course Jami Jones,
14:04
Speaker 1: who today let off the game with a home run.
14:06
Speaker 1: And then I mean, honestly the full game at the
14:09
Speaker 1: play because you have a home run, you have a
14:11
Speaker 1: bunch single, and you also have another extra base hit
14:13
Speaker 1: and the double two riubies there as well. And you
14:17
Speaker 1: know when Andy A. Bonyez came back up, like I
14:20
Speaker 1: was like, all right, well, where are we gonna kind
14:22
Speaker 1: of see JAMAI the spots and really they didn't really
14:26
Speaker 1: change all that often, and now the Jay hens up.
14:28
Speaker 1: I mean, I don't The question we have here is
14:31
Speaker 1: how safe is Jami Jones. It feels pretty safe to
14:34
Speaker 1: me right now because the dude just keeps hitting.
14:36
Speaker 2: It's one hundred percent safe. Jamaike Jones has a what
14:42
Speaker 2: eight eight seventy six ohps this season, Karen someone I
14:46
Speaker 2: didn't put on Twitter like he is what we wanted,
14:49
Speaker 2: justin Henry Malloy to be very MACI I think that's
14:52
Speaker 2: almost a little unfair to Jay, and like it's it's
14:54
Speaker 2: just kind of a small sample sized thing for both
14:56
Speaker 2: of them. But reality is Jami got called up. No
15:00
Speaker 2: one was quite sure how it was gonna last. Earlier
15:02
Speaker 2: this season when they sent Andy down, he was performing,
15:05
Speaker 2: didn't always play a lot. He's continued to perform. Seems
15:09
Speaker 2: like he's kind of getting hot all over again right now. Yeah,
15:13
Speaker 2: like he's locked down this role. He's turned out to
15:15
Speaker 2: be the perfect guy for it and probably a little
15:18
Speaker 2: bit underappreciated in the grand scope of the season. He
15:20
Speaker 2: only has one hundred and one at bats, so again
15:23
Speaker 2: he hasn't played a lot, but he has five homers.
15:26
Speaker 2: He gives you a competitive at bat every time. He's
15:29
Speaker 2: played a little bit in the field, Like for what
15:32
Speaker 2: the Tigers ask people to do. No one's embraced it
15:35
Speaker 2: as well as Tamai Jones and had success in that role.
15:40
Speaker 1: Yeah, so credit to him, and you know, credit to
15:43
Speaker 1: the front office for identifying him as somebody who would
15:46
Speaker 1: buy in. And one of the things that guys really
15:49
Speaker 1: have to buy into or get the hell out of
15:52
Speaker 1: the way is the base running like mantra of taking
15:57
Speaker 1: the extra base. And we saw examples over the weekend
16:01
Speaker 1: and even today with Torque running on Juan Soto there
16:06
Speaker 1: and what was a really close play this is this
16:10
Speaker 1: is literally historic, like we sometimes we take it for grant,
16:14
Speaker 1: Like I watched this Saturday broadcast because Bennetti's doing it
16:17
Speaker 1: with our colleague A. J. Prazinski, and Bennetti's talking to
16:20
Speaker 1: a national audience, so I wanted to see how he
16:22
Speaker 1: would kind of scope like the Tigers to a national
16:26
Speaker 1: audience as opposed to what he normally does for FanDuel TV.
16:30
Speaker 1: And you know, he hit on this base running thing
16:32
Speaker 1: and it's true, like it's historic. I don't know how
16:34
Speaker 1: many people are caught up on this, like outside of
16:36
Speaker 1: you know, obviously Tigers fans, but the we have a
16:41
Speaker 1: graphic up here if you're watching on YouTube, the Tigers
16:43
Speaker 1: extra base percentage of fifty four percent is number two,
16:47
Speaker 1: tied for number two since nineteen seventy only the nineteen
16:52
Speaker 1: seventy five Oakland Athletics are superior and the nineteen seventy
16:57
Speaker 1: Yankees are tied there. I mean, this is this is
17:00
Speaker 1: literally something that we have not seen. What's the most
17:03
Speaker 1: about it? So the Rockies in twenty, clubs in twenty
17:05
Speaker 1: as well.
17:05
Speaker 2: You're short seasons in twenty twenty.
17:07
Speaker 1: Throw out the twenty twenty. The last time we saw
17:10
Speaker 1: something like this. Literally nineteen eighty two one.
17:14
Speaker 2: Does it, which is kind of crazy. And if you
17:17
Speaker 2: go back further into the sixties, teams were doing this
17:20
Speaker 2: all the time. I'm not sure exactly what changed in
17:24
Speaker 2: the seventies where people stopped running the bases as aggressively.
17:28
Speaker 2: That was pre the analytics revolution. I think that has
17:32
Speaker 2: has something to do with what we see now. I
17:34
Speaker 2: don't know, but I think that tells you, like, we
17:37
Speaker 2: got to step back and appreciate this. And welb dot
17:40
Speaker 2: com pointed this out in June that the Tigers were
17:43
Speaker 2: doing this. It's now September first, and the Tigers have
17:46
Speaker 2: sustained taking extra bases at a historic rate. I think
17:51
Speaker 2: a big question is like, well, how much of a
17:55
Speaker 2: difference does this really make? And one way to look
17:58
Speaker 2: at it will the Tigers are I think eighth in
18:01
Speaker 2: run scoring and they're you know, I think they're down
18:06
Speaker 2: to fourteenth in batting average. You know, they're around twelfth
18:11
Speaker 2: in OPS, so they are out performing their ops in
18:15
Speaker 2: terms of the amount of runs they score. They I
18:19
Speaker 2: believe are the best in the league or second best
18:21
Speaker 2: in the league at converting base runners to runs. The
18:24
Speaker 2: percentage of runners who actually score. It's making a difference.
18:28
Speaker 2: The difference between the eighth best offense and the twelfth
18:31
Speaker 2: best offense this year is about thirty six runs. If
18:34
Speaker 2: you want to get real nerdy, plug that into a
18:36
Speaker 2: Pythagorean wins formula. That's gonna equate to about three wins.
18:42
Speaker 2: Now that's not make or break in your season, but
18:45
Speaker 2: that could be the difference between home field advantage or not,
18:49
Speaker 2: or a first round by or not. So the things
18:52
Speaker 2: the Tigers are doing it works, and that's only what
18:55
Speaker 2: we can really measure with the numbers. We should probably
18:58
Speaker 2: consider just the pressure puts one other teams, or if
19:01
Speaker 2: you have a runner on third, that pitcher maybe isn't
19:04
Speaker 2: as likely to throw a curveball in the dirt and
19:06
Speaker 2: try to get your guy to chase. There's some unseen
19:10
Speaker 2: things that I think can make a difference too. I'm
19:14
Speaker 2: writing more about this on The Athletic this week, getting
19:16
Speaker 2: really nerdy. Looking at the run Expectancy Matrix. The big
19:21
Speaker 2: one of the biggest differences on that board is the
19:24
Speaker 2: difference between a runner and with one first and second
19:27
Speaker 2: and a runner on first and third. It's a big difference.
19:30
Speaker 2: So if you want to know more about that you
19:32
Speaker 2: can kind of check out that story, but just a
19:34
Speaker 2: reminder we should step back and like, yeah, the best
19:37
Speaker 2: base running team since nineteen seventy five, that's pretty incredible.
19:43
Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely, And you know, like what it what it
19:46
Speaker 1: reminds me of is the old It is kind of
19:49
Speaker 1: like it is old school, and it's also like the
19:52
Speaker 1: old school mantras that like you gotta be able to like,
19:54
Speaker 1: you know, not necessarily the fastest guy, but the best
19:56
Speaker 1: base runner. You know, those metrics are happy largely, almost
20:01
Speaker 1: exclusively without Matt Vierling and without Parker Meadows.
20:07
Speaker 2: So Tigers rink I think sixteenth in average team sprint speed,
20:11
Speaker 2: so middle of the pack, nothing special. You were dead
20:16
Speaker 2: last in stolem bases because you don't sing guys on,
20:20
Speaker 2: you don't give guys the green light. But you are
20:22
Speaker 2: the best at taking extra basis since nineteen seventy We
20:26
Speaker 2: know the cost to that, right, Guys get thrown out.
20:28
Speaker 2: Sometimes Tigers have made more outs on the bases than
20:31
Speaker 2: anyone in the league. But then you look at the
20:34
Speaker 2: other metrics only really the Milwaukee Brewers have been worth
20:38
Speaker 2: more runs above average on the bases than the Tigers.
20:41
Speaker 1: It works, yep, it does work and it's a fun
20:45
Speaker 1: branded baseball to watch. All Right, we are going to
20:48
Speaker 1: take a quick break and afterward we're going to discuss
20:53
Speaker 1: is the one seed that important? The first award from
20:57
Speaker 1: our sponsors.
20:58
Speaker 4: We're throwing a curveball at this week for our Arena
21:01
Speaker 4: Club segment. As AJ has opened up a Pokemon slap pack.
21:05
Speaker 4: Did you say it? Pokemon?
21:06
Speaker 2: Flatman?
21:07
Speaker 4: Pokemon? Don't ask me to say what that card is,
21:10
Speaker 4: but we're doing with that card.
21:12
Speaker 2: I already sold it back, baby.
21:14
Speaker 4: I bought it, and then I got more money than
21:16
Speaker 4: I paid for the pack, so I sold it straight back.
21:18
Speaker 4: You bought it for, you sold it for, and you
21:24
Speaker 4: can go get yourself something that you maybe know how
21:27
Speaker 4: to pronounce, Yes, what it is?
21:29
Speaker 3: I said it because I saw certain people open in
21:31
Speaker 3: Pokemon and they're making money, and guess what I got.
21:34
Speaker 4: Lucky made money off of it.
21:36
Speaker 1: Too, exactly.
21:37
Speaker 4: But of course, if you're into sports cards, that is
21:39
Speaker 4: something that you can find a ton of on the
21:42
Speaker 4: Arena club marketplace. By sell slab pack, trade twenty percent
21:47
Speaker 4: off your first slap pack or card purchase can be
21:50
Speaker 4: had at Arena club dot com. Slash foul and use
21:53
Speaker 4: the code foul. That's arenaclub dot com slash foul and
21:57
Speaker 4: use code foul.
22:01
Speaker 1: All right, coming back here as of this moment, and
22:06
Speaker 1: the games are a final, so it's not gonna change
22:09
Speaker 1: by the time you guys listen to this. Hopefully. The
22:10
Speaker 1: Tigers are the only team with eighty wins in the
22:13
Speaker 1: American League. The Toronto Blue Jays lost today and walk
22:17
Speaker 1: off fashion, so they are seventy nine and fifty nine.
22:20
Speaker 1: The Tigers are eighty and fifty nine. So we talked
22:24
Speaker 1: a lot Cody about the importance of avoiding that three
22:28
Speaker 1: game wildcard series. Well we haven't dedicated as much time. Too,
22:32
Speaker 1: is the importance of the one seed overall, so obviously
22:36
Speaker 1: that means home field advantage throughout the postseason. We have
22:40
Speaker 1: a postseason picture at the season. This is entering Sunday
22:44
Speaker 1: at the season ended, or sorry, Monday. There's my holiday
22:49
Speaker 1: brain right there. And the Tigers are the one seed Toronto.
22:53
Speaker 1: The two seed Seattle and Houston would play in the
22:56
Speaker 1: best of three in Houston, excuse me, and Boston and
23:00
Speaker 1: New York would play in a best of three in
23:03
Speaker 1: the Bronx for the right to play the Tigers. So
23:08
Speaker 1: now we have a graphic thing to illustrate overall your
23:12
Speaker 1: thoughts on this, and just like, is the one seed
23:15
Speaker 1: worth going for per se? You know what I mean?
23:19
Speaker 1: Like going for that one seed where it'll probably come
23:22
Speaker 1: down to the last couple of days of the season anyway,
23:24
Speaker 1: So it's not going to change your approach. But how
23:26
Speaker 1: important is it to have home field throughout?
23:29
Speaker 2: It's a good question, Karen. I think you need that
23:32
Speaker 2: buy you don't want to play that three game series.
23:35
Speaker 2: Just looking at this bracket right now, I'm not sure.
23:38
Speaker 2: Like the one two, how much is it gonna matter?
23:41
Speaker 2: I guess could matter home field advantage for the Alcs,
23:44
Speaker 2: so just keep that in mind. But otherwise, I don't know.
23:48
Speaker 2: The Seattle Mariners I think scare me more than any
23:51
Speaker 2: team in the al Still right now, you would get
23:54
Speaker 2: to avoid them if you're the one seed, but you'd
23:58
Speaker 2: be greeted with the Yankees or Red Sox in return.
24:00
Speaker 2: You know the Red Sox they have some pretty good
24:02
Speaker 2: left handed hitters atop that order. The Yankees or the Yankees, Like,
24:07
Speaker 2: how comfortable do you feel against any of these teams?
24:10
Speaker 2: I'm not sure. I kind of like the Tiger's chance
24:13
Speaker 2: against the Yankees. The Yankees can be so sloppy, so
24:16
Speaker 2: maybe that's reason to advocate for the one seed. But
24:18
Speaker 2: we'll see how the rest of the American League shakes out,
24:22
Speaker 2: see what the Mariners do, See what happens in the
24:24
Speaker 2: AO West. That's kind of been a crazy division that
24:28
Speaker 2: I think could be far from settled, at least between
24:31
Speaker 2: the Astros and the Mariners if it stands today. I
24:36
Speaker 2: think I'd be slightly more comfortable having that one seed
24:38
Speaker 2: if you're the Tigers, but I'm not sure it makes
24:41
Speaker 2: a huge difference because you're gonna have a five game
24:44
Speaker 2: series against a pretty quality opponent in the Alds any
24:48
Speaker 2: way you cut it.
24:50
Speaker 1: That is true. And Boston, I'll be honest, Boston kind
24:54
Speaker 1: of blairs red lights at me because of you know,
24:57
Speaker 1: they got Crochet, so you can doutra a lot right there.
25:00
Speaker 1: You can get Cooble uh and and they're they're you know,
25:05
Speaker 1: they have a philosophy that's probably not a lot different
25:08
Speaker 1: from the Tigers in terms of, like, you know, the
25:10
Speaker 1: guy at the top there calling the shots als Kora. Now,
25:13
Speaker 1: storyline wise, it would be awesome, but but uh but yeah,
25:17
Speaker 1: that Boston scares me. Uh, I see what you're saying
25:20
Speaker 1: about Seattle. So just for the record, the Tigers are
25:24
Speaker 1: forty four and twenty five at home this year, so
25:27
Speaker 1: actually that's that's coming in today, So forty four and
25:29
Speaker 1: twenty six, and then they are thirty six and thirty three,
25:34
Speaker 1: so just a hair above five hundred the road, so
25:37
Speaker 1: what you know, for wherever that's worth. Versus Boston, they
25:40
Speaker 1: swept Boston, so they're three and zero against Boston. They
25:42
Speaker 1: play them last series of the of the season against
25:47
Speaker 1: the Yankees, they are two and one. They play coming
25:50
Speaker 1: up here pretty soon against Seattle they're two and four,
25:53
Speaker 1: and against Houston they are four and two. Because of
25:58
Speaker 1: that sweet they had the season advanta. So it's so
26:02
Speaker 1: then I say Toronto. Toronto they are three and four,
26:05
Speaker 1: so you know, toss up there. So yeah, I mean
26:08
Speaker 1: you're gonna have a challenge there that you're gonna have
26:10
Speaker 1: to be on. You're gonna have to have better starting
26:13
Speaker 1: pitching than what you've shown right now.
26:16
Speaker 3: Uh.
26:17
Speaker 1: But for the one seed specifically, you're really only talking
26:21
Speaker 1: about one team that can have home field advantage. Like
26:24
Speaker 1: I just to me, it's not something that I am
26:27
Speaker 1: giving a lot of cognitive energy for as opposed to
26:30
Speaker 1: just getting out of that wildcard series. Uh. And also,
26:34
Speaker 1: if Toronto's the one seed, you're gonna have a good
26:37
Speaker 1: contingent of fans there as opposed to you know, probably
26:41
Speaker 1: any of these other teams. And it's also short travel,
26:44
Speaker 1: it's also indoors, like it's a It's probably more manageable
26:47
Speaker 1: than going West Coast. It's probably better than going up
26:50
Speaker 1: against these perennial playoff teams. Even though you did just
26:53
Speaker 1: have success against Houston, I'm not too worried about one
26:57
Speaker 1: versus too. So that's that's my I'm staking my claim
26:59
Speaker 1: right there.
27:00
Speaker 2: I don't know what I'm based on this off. I
27:02
Speaker 2: want to go to a cool city. I guess. I
27:06
Speaker 2: guess they're all pretty good cities. I'm trying to disrespect
27:08
Speaker 2: him on the city here. You got a cousin in
27:10
Speaker 2: New York. I got friend in Seattle. A little seafood
27:13
Speaker 2: either in Seattle or on the East Coast. So I'm
27:16
Speaker 2: kind of not feeling Houston. Toronto's a Toronto's a great city.
27:21
Speaker 2: Do I want to have to go through customs? I
27:23
Speaker 2: don't know. Take me to New York or Boston. Take
27:26
Speaker 2: me New York or Boston. I think that'd be fun.
27:30
Speaker 1: That would be a lot of fun. I would love
27:32
Speaker 1: to have never been to the new Yankee Stadium. I've
27:33
Speaker 1: never seen a game at Fenway Park. That would be
27:37
Speaker 1: you know, obviously historic elements there in terms of rivalries,
27:41
Speaker 1: and the Tigers have had good success against the Yankees
27:43
Speaker 1: in my lifetime, so I don't have I don't fear
27:45
Speaker 1: the Yankees if you if you would, so, yeah, it'd
27:48
Speaker 1: be fun. We'll see how it shapes out, if any,
27:50
Speaker 1: if there's any alterations in the wildcar too, whether that
27:53
Speaker 1: plays into a factor of teams that you're you know,
27:55
Speaker 1: quote unquote worried about. All right, let's uh, let's wrap
27:59
Speaker 1: up with a quick little hitter. We've mentioned these guys
28:03
Speaker 1: in different parts, but I just wanted to point out
28:05
Speaker 1: some really high end performers in August fin again that
28:10
Speaker 1: you mentioned fourteen point one innings yet to allow a run.
28:15
Speaker 1: That's that's kind of saving grace of the front office
28:18
Speaker 1: in terms of public perception, how good Kyle Finnigan has been,
28:23
Speaker 1: and not just like their actions, but their process, Like
28:27
Speaker 1: if there's a guy that epitomizes like this is why
28:30
Speaker 1: we do what we do, it's what they did to
28:32
Speaker 1: go get Kyle Finnigan.
28:34
Speaker 2: And we know the adjustment. They've told him to throw
28:37
Speaker 2: the splitter a lot more. It's led to a lot
28:39
Speaker 2: of success. To strike out rate is thirty nine point
28:42
Speaker 2: one percent since becoming a Tiger. I'm not sure it's
28:45
Speaker 2: gonna stay that high, but it's been better. He's throwing
28:48
Speaker 2: now more splitters than fastballs. Not like that's some revolutionary thing,
28:53
Speaker 2: but a reminder, you know, there's still some haves and
28:56
Speaker 2: have nots, and the Tigers are in the half category
29:00
Speaker 2: of pitching knowledge and knowing how to tinker. Guys. They
29:02
Speaker 2: can't save everybody. I think we've seen that this year,
29:05
Speaker 2: but one little adjustment sometimes is all can take to
29:08
Speaker 2: unlock somebody. They've done that for California. Yeah.
29:12
Speaker 1: Also shout out Colt Keith, who hit two seventy five
29:14
Speaker 1: in the month of August and had a rope today.
29:18
Speaker 2: He'd actually started to cool a little bit, I believe
29:20
Speaker 2: the last ten days or so.
29:22
Speaker 1: Yeah, So, so, yeah, it was it was good to
29:26
Speaker 1: see still one of those guys that's like, I feel
29:29
Speaker 1: like there's a larger role to play for this, for
29:32
Speaker 1: this team and in that and like, and I mean
29:35
Speaker 1: that as a compliment like he's just kind of been steady,
29:37
Speaker 1: and it's like there could be like another step that comes,
29:40
Speaker 1: you know, almost out of nowhere unless you've been paying attention.
29:43
Speaker 1: Wentzel Perez Cody eight forty three ops in the month
29:47
Speaker 1: of month of August. That obviously doesn't include what he
29:49
Speaker 1: did today to eighty seven average. He's he's been a whirlwind,
29:56
Speaker 1: a godsend in some ways with his ability to hit
29:59
Speaker 1: left handed pitching this year. So I wanted to give
30:01
Speaker 1: him some credit there, Tork, you know, Seti, Tork, I
30:05
Speaker 1: think we got to give credit for Torque kind of
30:07
Speaker 1: being the same guy the majority of the season. He
30:10
Speaker 1: had a seven thirty two ops in August, and Riley Green.
30:14
Speaker 1: Riley Green another guy that's kind of had this, you know,
30:17
Speaker 1: get into more steady waters. He finished with a seven
30:19
Speaker 1: to ninety ops in the month of August, and you know,
30:23
Speaker 1: seems like he see he obviously started off September, you know,
30:26
Speaker 1: pretty nicely as well. So there's some guys, no losers,
30:31
Speaker 1: but I just wanted to put out some winners there,
30:34
Speaker 1: and you know, the guys we already talked about, like
30:36
Speaker 1: Jami Jones and some of the consistent point bullpen in general,
30:39
Speaker 1: Montero eight innings without Ernie Earn runs. That's something I
30:44
Speaker 1: don't know what it is, but it's something so uh
30:48
Speaker 1: coming off of terrible August where you were eleven and fourteen, Yeah,
30:51
Speaker 1: eleven fourteen, Yes, I'm sorry, Yes, in July when you
30:55
Speaker 1: were eleven and fourteen and the sky was falling. In
30:57
Speaker 1: many ways, this was a right the ship month for
31:00
Speaker 1: the Tigers, so everyone deserves credit for that.
31:02
Speaker 2: Yeah, it wasn't a perfect month, but we saw some
31:05
Speaker 2: stretches of good baseball, saw some good things happen, like
31:07
Speaker 2: we've talked about with the bullpen. I guess I just
31:10
Speaker 2: started the spot still some tests ahead. What's the periz Man?
31:14
Speaker 2: This guy's been so good. He's at one point for War,
31:19
Speaker 2: which has to be the best by a Tigers international
31:23
Speaker 2: sinee since.
31:26
Speaker 4: Like time.
31:27
Speaker 2: Maybe I'm for am I forgetting something obvious.
31:31
Speaker 1: This is this is a perfect rod. He has this
31:34
Speaker 1: stuff off the top of his.
31:35
Speaker 2: Yes he does.
31:36
Speaker 1: He does?
31:36
Speaker 2: Someone shoot us? The answer to that it's gotta be Yeah.
31:39
Speaker 2: You probably have to go disturbingly far back to find
31:42
Speaker 2: the answer. And that's just one point for War. We're
31:45
Speaker 2: talking about Willie Castro didn't get that a Tiger's uniform,
31:48
Speaker 2: did I don't think so. Oh, he was a trade,
31:50
Speaker 2: he was. They traded for him.
31:52
Speaker 1: He was a trade. We're doing a lot. We're doing
31:54
Speaker 1: a lot.
31:55
Speaker 2: And he also never did it. He also never did
31:57
Speaker 2: it as a Tiger. Sorry.
32:00
Speaker 1: One sign most home runs by a draft pick, Like,
32:03
Speaker 1: we're getting a lot of those right now, which is
32:07
Speaker 1: like a good and a bad thing. If you from
32:09
Speaker 1: a historical perspective, it's not that great, but from currently
32:12
Speaker 1: it's a it's a it's a pretty good deal. Uh So, Yeah,
32:16
Speaker 1: we will be recapping the Mets series on Wednesday afternoon.
32:21
Speaker 1: That will publish Thursday, and then for Friday, we have
32:24
Speaker 1: another special treat with Austin Jackson. That's the teas. That's
32:27
Speaker 1: all I'm gonna that's all. I'm gonna give away, Cody
32:30
Speaker 1: anything else before we jet out here.
32:32
Speaker 2: No, that's good, all right?
32:33
Speaker 1: Well, you can follow us on x formally known as
32:35
Speaker 1: Twitter at Cody siven Haagen, I'm at Kerean on his
32:37
Speaker 1: score Stecley. Make sure you guys subscribe to the Athletics
32:39
Speaker 1: so you can read that base running story and nerd
32:42
Speaker 1: out a little bit. Uh, subscribe to us please on Apple, Spotify, YouTube, Instagram.
32:47
Speaker 1: You guys know the deal. Five star review if you
32:49
Speaker 1: feel so inclined. We appreciate all of you, so for
32:52
Speaker 1: Cody staven Hagen, I'm Kieran Steckley. Everybody, have a great day.