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Billy P from The D and Chet here. Thank you all
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you. You're listening to the litter box a Detroit
Tigers podcast with your hosts Chet West and
Bill Patterson Welcome to the Detroit Tigers
litter box and thank you all for supporting us
and listening This is your host Billy P with
my co -host Chet and the Tigers Limped their
way into the playoffs as a wild card and now
have a best of three series at progressive field
in Cleveland against the Guardians or Indians
as my co -host likes to call them Tigers by accident.
I don't do it because I want to spite the new
guardian name I don't care about the guardian
name thing. It's fine. I get it, but I keep saying
it by accident It's more of just a mental slip
my apologies. I wasn't accusatory and I'm sorry
that really did so I wasn't apologizing to you
So if I can my son Grady and I have always had
a very hot take on the Indians switching their
name to the Guardians, because the Indians wasn't
Cleveland's original baseball team's name. No,
no. Do you know what it was? Yeah, I know you
do. It was a dumb question. Spiders. And Grady
has always thought, what a cool name that would
be. Cleveland Spiders? Like, why would you keep
that? You could do so many things with the ball
cap and the jersey and the just the branding
of the team nickname and moniker. And it just
seems like such a letdown to be. Yeah. Because
you already have spiders as part of your pedigree
in history. Why wouldn't you continue that opposed
to Guardian just seems really Benign is that
fair to say or it's supposed isn't it supposed
to be like a Marvel was big and so the Guardians
of the Galaxy thing wasn't something around all
that It's a weird deal. I don't really get it.
I don't understand why they've gone Guardians.
It doesn't I don't get the name. Here's what
I want you to do though I'm gonna give you an
assignment. Yeah homework. I love it when this
series is done winner lose we're gonna We're
either gonna cap off the season with a pod, or
we're gonna introduce whatever's next for the
playoffs in the top, whichever way we go. I would
like you to do a quick homework assignment, because
I know you like these things. I want you to A,
why did they name themselves the spiders? Was
it just because spiders are like a dangerous
being animal that bite, and so they were like,
eh, let's pick an insect that bites? Or is there
something about Cleveland and spiders? Do they
have a massive spider infestation that took out
half the city? I don't know. I have no clue.
Or, I'm going with the previous. Or, I also want
to know, like, where did the Guardians come from?
Do the real research on that. If it's a Marvel
thing, I'm going to die laughing. So Guardians,
I don't have for you, but spiders, I already
did. You do. You have that. I showed up to class
prepared, Professor. Oh my goodness. A plus.
A plus. So, they were... Now, mind you, these
were all... The team themselves was known as
the Cleveland Baseball Club. The writers that
followed them were the ones that assigned all
the names. Okay. Meaning that, like, the Chicago
Cubs were originally the Whales, and then they
became the Cubs because of Cap Anson was the
manager, and they were his baby... or whatever.
Whales or cubs, they were the baby cubs. Yeah,
but I don't know how it went from whales to cubs.
That's a different pod. The spiders were because
they had skinny, lanky builds and they wore black
and gray uniforms with the nickname sticking
after a rival executive made the joke. They look
spidery. Oh my gosh. That is incredible and that
might be some of the great people we are Basically
dropping pearls on you all over this podcast
all season long bill Just brought something special
to the table there. I learned something today.
I appreciate that that day from a three to a
solid four Thank you for that. Real quick, weekend
and recap, even though everybody already knows.
But I want to know why they did the Guardians,
so that's assignment number two. Hold on. We
got to tease that just a little. I didn't...
I took your high heat and laid off it, and now
I'm going to wait for you to throw your Tommy
Cannelly knuckle. Oh, dear. Here come the playoffs,
people. I'm going to tee off on it. Here come
the playoffs. Friday night, the Tigers lost to
the Red Sox. They were competitive. And what's
interesting about this is that the Red Sox clinched
playoff berth and essentially the AL East was
out of reach for them. So they took their foot
off the gas, which was nice. So that was a 4
-3 loss for the Tigers. Saturday was a different
story. The Tigers won 2 -1. Weird game. We'll
get to it in just a minute on this. Then the
Tigers clinched because the Astros... If we thought
the Tigers showed an exercise in futility in
the month of September, the Houston Astros might
have set new precedent with the exception they
didn't blow a 15 and a half game lead. Go ahead.
True. The depth of the lead wasn't as incredible,
but they still blew it. And if you want to take
it another step further, look at the Mets. And
the Mets are a disaster. I read an article the
other day about this in the athletic. They have
a 300 plus million dollar payroll and they didn't
make the playoffs. And it's chaotic. Their manager,
who I think as of a year ago was getting all
sorts of accolades and pats on the back for the
work he had done. Now he gets this 300 million
payroll and you can't get them to the playoffs.
And apparently the locker room has got not riffs,
they just don't have clear leadership. And you
start reading that stuff and it's like the chemistry
of baseball, of assembling a roster that gets
you to the promised land. It's high science here.
It's high science. It's a very difficult thing
to do. Is it alchemy? It's alchemy. It's alchemy.
Thank you for that word. That's lovely. What
I guess what I'm saying is you're either buying
it outright, like the old school Yankees, and
I say old school, 15, 20 years, whatever, 10
years, 15 years ago, or the current Dodgers where
you've got like Otani and Betts and you're like
worst player in the everyday lineup is who? Like
Kike Rodriguez? I don't even know. I don't know.
That's a fair comparison. Or Kike. Is it Kike?
What's Kike's last name? You look him up while
I just say that I'm gonna disagree with you a
little bit on the we're talking about the late
90s early 2000 Yankees teams The core of that
team was homegrown and Jorge Posada Kike Rodriguez
Derek Jeter. Yeah, Bernie Williams. Yeah Mariano
Rivera were these stalwarts of that team, which
reminded me somewhat, it's what we hoped the
84 Tigers would have become. Somewhat, yes. But
obviously better players all the way around.
And then the Yankees filled it in wherever they
needed to because they had more money. They'd
go buy a veteran and just... Right there. Dodgers,
for some weird reason, not only have an unbelievable
farm system, they also... Sign whomever they
want free agent no surprise and then they go
get guys the trade deadline, too they are quiet
then even fleece the rest of the league and some
of these trades that are just Mind scratch or
head scratching if I had to give kudos Going
back to game two. It was the Monteros that actually
did the yeoman's work on this Yep, and Kenter
only allowed a run. He pitched foreign one any,
or four and a third. And then Raphael came on
and pitched one and a third, and they did fairly
well with that. The Tigers lost four, three on
Sunday. And fortunately for the Tigers, they
did not start Tarek Scoobel because the guardians
also won that day. And so had they wasted that
Scoobel start, even if they had won in Fenway,
it wouldn't have mattered. So they lost four,
three. They didn't take the division. It's still
a 15 and a half game collapse It's the largest
collapse in the history of divisions or totally.
Yeah, whatever Yeah divisions in baseball, but
they still get a postseason birth and I learned
this nugget today The Detroit Tigers have been
playing baseball for 125 years Do you want to
take a stab at how many playoff appearances they
have in 125 years? In 125 I'm going to say 42.
20. 20. I thought it was going to be under 20
in 125 years. Yes. That's amazing. That's absolutely
amazing. So secondary stat to go along with that,
or did you? No, I guess basically what I'm trying
to say is wasn't there some stater on the back
to back playoff bids that they received? Because
I know they haven't done that very often. It's
something like five times some crazy number.
Yeah, because even in when we grew up 68 they
won the World Series I don't believe they made
the playoffs in the 70s and then They made it
in 84 won the World Series They made it in 87
lost to the Twins in the LCS and then had a drought
until like 2006 Wow, that's crazy unless there's
been a lot of gaps. We'll just put it that way.
Yeah Do you so game two I would like to take
a second and just please tell you how I feel
We haven't had a chance To do an appreciation
game for this gentleman, but I feel like to my
Jones This is the Jami Jones appreciation game
and well -deserved and I'm glad you did it because
I had it in my shot shit Good good that I wanted
to give away. No, I hundred percent I think it's
here's a guy that out of spring training like
he was scrappy and spring down I was like they
should have this guy's a bench guy He seems like
the kind of guy that'll produce a clip that's
good for our bench. Yeah. And then they didn't
bring him up immediately. I think he did some
AAA time there at the beginning of the season,
maybe in the first half of the season. And I
thought it was in error. I think they brought,
who did they bring up, of Cridler or somebody
like that to start the season? And I was like,
ugh. I'd much rather have a Jemai Jones on the
roster right now. I'm sure it had to do with
position need or whatever. Are you just airing
all your dirty laundry before the playoffs by
bringing up Ryan Cridler? No. We'll do that for
the end of season podcast. This is just my example
of when I first noticed Jemai Jones could be
a productive player on our team, and it took
all the way until game number 161 for him to
get his bouquets, as you like to say. So I give
Jemai Jones the game ball. For game 161. Excellent.
I love it. What about 163? What happened there?
Two? 162. There isn't a 163 yet. Game 162. It
might have felt like a 163 even. They lost 4
-3 and I feel like it was basically the month
or the last six weeks of the season in a microcosm.
Yeah. Things went well, but things also didn't
go well. And I know I'm being very vague in that.
Yeah. But that is essentially the microcosm that
has become the Detroit Tigers second half of
the season. It's bewildering how this team can
be so good and yet so bad. And here's how I would
summarize yesterday's game. You had a chance
to tie it. Yeah. with a runner on, two outs,
and guess who came to bat? It's gotta be like
Trey Sweeney or something. Somebody infuriating.
Jake Rogers? The center field version, Parker
Meadows. Really? Okay, Parker Meadows. But Parker
has been better. He went two for four yesterday.
He did go two for four, so... Come on. He's been
better since the call -up. He has been better.
That is certainly true. Since the injury. This
was the lineup, though, yesterday, which tells
you how serious the Tigers were. Meadows batting
leadoff McKinstry and the two Malloy Karp Perez
Baez Sweeney a banyas Jake the most kind of like
the let's make sure everybody gets to play once
for the season Yeah, it is a pretty rough lineup
and the pitching was like paddock. Yes, Paul
Seewald and Tanner Rainey It was like yeah, I
hope you didn't come to the ballpark to see the
Tiger Stars out there flashing the leather Had
I known that's how deep they were going to go,
I would have brought my mitt and shown up at
Fenway because I probably would have gotten a
long toss in at least. We're looking for someone
to play left field. I don't think, I still think
they were better situated with what they threw
out there than having any of us play. But I get
where you're going from. Maybe I get where you're
going with that. Hey, do you know who's gotten
hot recently as well? So one more shout out if
we can give a game ball. Yeah. Abanez went three
for three, and you're right about Meadows going
two for four, but Abanez has been on a slight
heater of sorts, so just something to be on the
- Just playoff cookies, playoff thoughts there,
treats for you. Here's my prediction, okay? Because
can we move to the playoffs? Yeah, let's move
to the playoffs. Or do you want - Let's just,
I'm done with the regular season. Okay. Game
162 is over and out. We are now in the playoffs.
We start tomorrow. We got the illustrious noontime
start central time. Let's go. What do you got?
You've got the two smallest markets Playing in
the postseason. I get it. I get it. We're just
we are second -class citizens in Major League
Baseball this year. So what would you like first?
Would you like why the Guardians are named the
Guardians? Would you like Billy P from the D's
prediction on this series? Do you already have
an answer? Oh, yeah. To essay question number
two. Oh, please. You share it with the crowd
here. All right. They decided on their new name
and logo because it was inspired by the Art Deco
Guardians of Traffic statues on the Hope Memorial
Bridge in downtown Cleveland. It is a landmark
close to progressive field and that is what they
decided to do because they were under heat in
2021 is when they made the change because Indians
was offensive to Yeah, we know the story on that.
I find that reachy. I think some kid sent in
Guardians, and it sounds cool. Can we find a
local flair to pick this up? And they said the
Marvel Guardians of the Galaxy is pretty cool.
I don't know, I like my story better. I like
your story better, too. However... I still think
it's a dumb name for a team. That's all I'm gonna...
I'm gonna leave it at that. I agree, 100%. Sorry,
Cleveland. Spiders would be better, Indians would
be better. Yeah. Really quick, or just... the
Wahoos because Chief Wahoos actually would be
a pretty good name. That was the mascot on the
hat. That was great. Real quick, one last thing.
When we go to Cleveland to do a live pod in the
future, we're going to this Hope Bridge and I
don't care if I have to climb barricades and
get arrested. I'm climbing up to see who these
guardians are to get a To get a closer look at
him? No, I want to Instagram and tweet this stuff
out. So you can join me or not. Or just pay my
bail to get me out of the Cleveland municipal
whatever. Let's see what it looks like when we
get there. I may just take pictures of you. I
may just take pictures of you for the Instagram
from down below. Done. I like it. All right.
Game one. You got Scoobs and you got Gavin. Yeah,
here's the thing. I'm a fan. of this matchup,
I think it's gonna be a doozy. All right? I do
too. I think Scoobble's gonna come right a roll.
I don't think the home field advantage is that
big a deal. Mainly because the Guardians just
swept us at home this past September. Twice.
Twice? No. They didn't sweep us at home twice.
No. You're holding up two fingers. What does
that mean? They just won the last two series
in decisive fashion. Oh yeah, but one of them
was a sweep at home. And whatever, we can win
away, we can win home, whatever we need to do.
I'm not picky about this right now. We got Scubal
going first, who should be the Cy Young winner
this year. Notice I didn't call him the Cy Young
winner this year. You got on me in the last episode
for that. I think all we need to do is just play.
Our offense needs to show up a little bit. Give
Scubal four runs. We win this game. So, I'm making
four runs as the magic number. Oh, easy. I would
even lower that by one and say three. Tigers
win this series in two. They're gonna get the
win. Oh, they're getting the win tomorrow. Look
who went to positive town. Holy cow, okay. And
I'm giving a shout out to a quick gentleman by
the name of Justin Bibb. You familiar with him?
Justin Bibb. Why would I know whom this is? You
wouldn't, because he's the mayor of Cleveland,
and I'm challenging him from this pod that Justin
Bibb, when we win, you're gonna send Chet and
I some of your delicious Cleveland Polish boy
sandwiches. Does he know this? He doesn't know
this. This is our invitation here. Oh, yeah.
And then he gets to pick what he wants, either
if he wants walleye on a stick from the Twin
Cities... and or one of Chicago's delicacies.
Or, you know what, we'll even send him a Detroit
delicacy. Justin, we love what you're doing politically.
We love what you're doing for the city of Cleveland.
This is just a fun little mayor bet, even though
we're not mayors. We're the kings of our own
castle. We're the mayors of litterbox town. Yeah,
and we just thought if we could break bread with
you, you'll look like a guy that probably enjoys
a good... encased meat or sandwich or Fried fish
on a stick game two who is now? Here's I know
Tanner baby's gonna be starting for the Guardians
We've gotten to him before we've hit him a little
bit before Who is starting for us bill? I this
is like the 24 million dollar question who goes
after school bull is it Flaherty? Mize or a wild
card like Melton So, going back to my prediction,
provided the Tigers get the win tomorrow, it's
going to be all three. You think so? You think
it's going to be a three -headed monster? A monster
of Flaherty, Mize, and Melton. Okay. Okay. That's
a t -shirt. You just did it. That's a bumper
sticker. So here's the deal. Who's going to start
the game is what I want to know. The law firm
of Flaherty, Mize, and Melton. You're going to
go Melton in late in terms of starting. Probably
I would go Mize for the first four, depending
on how he's doing, and then bring Flaherty in
for two to three. Really? And then go Melton,
then go Vest, or Finnegan Vest. Oh my goodness.
It depends on how close it is. Here's the deal.
I think they're going to put Flaherty in the
number two game. I think he's going to get number
two. Mize will get number three. I would really
like to see Troy Melton out there. I really would,
because I think he's a better pitcher than probably
Flaherty is. I don't know, because Flaherty's
been good in September, though. But if we get
bad Flaherty, oh, here we go. We're going to
overthink this. Just start Flaherty in game two,
Mize in game three, and go with it. That's all
we got to do. Troy doesn't have to pitch quite
yet. We'll keep him in the pen for relief options,
long relief, whatever, from there. I know what
I just said was fantasy, and I was saying it
tongue in cheek. I do think if the Tigers win
game one... that all hands on deck will go for
everything game two. The Tigers are gonna try
to get out of there quick. Yeah, do you think
we should roll with the same lineup we rolled
with in game three versus Red Sox this past weekend?
No. It's a test. It's a test. I threw all these
other difficult questions at you. I wanted to
make sure that you were still locked in. Yeah,
we're not gonna do that, I hope. So we should
bring Green and Karp off the bench. So you've
got Tigers in two. Two. I think that's the way
they win. If they drop game one... Sayonara on
the season. Peace out. If they can't get game
two, Sayonara on the season, I think they have
to go boom boom, win one, win two. Sorry, I just
don't see this thing going three games, one way
or the other, just because of the way they've
played and momentum and everything else, so I
think they gotta get game one with Scoobal on
the bump. Game two, with Flaherty, don't let
this go game three. God, don't do that to us.
And every game in this series is a noon start,
by the way, people. So if you want to watch,
you're going to sit on your phone at work and
be half as productive as normal, which is like
half as productive as normal people, I know.
But it's like you're going to have to watch on
your phone. You're taking the day off, whatever
you're doing, because we can't have nice things.
We can't have a prime time game. And I'm bitter
about that. Quick question. I sense your bitterness
and recognize it. I don't like it. I find it
very unusual that Major League Baseball is keeping
the same time slots for each game for all three
games. Isn't that weird? Usually I thought they
shuffled it around a little bit. So did I. And
I understand the LA... Sure right time because
they're at home. Yeah, I would be super upset
if I were Reds fan right now Yeah, if and I say
if because it's a big if we were to win we go
on to play Seattle I believe and those games
are all at night Okay, so we get the night games
if we play Seattle I'm not opposed to daytime
playoff baseball. I'm with you. I find it a little
interesting that they kept the same time slots
It seems a little lazy on baseball like they're
keeping the same crews They're the same so anyhow
is what we get for extra teams in extended So
remember when we had like a one game wild card
or whatever it was a week while is terrible So
real quick just so you know if Flaherty does
start Wednesday Yes. He will not be in September
anymore, buddy. He'll be in October. October
Flaherty. Is that a good Flaherty? We don't know.
I don't know. All right. He wasn't good last
year for the Dodgers. So you alluded to your
pick as well, a sweep. I'm staying with you in
the fact that we go, we win the first two games,
but we don't win this thing at all. So the analogy
I heard today, you probably heard it as well,
is that the Guardians, Spiders, Indians, There's
no more toothpaste left in the tube. They exhausted
it all. Really? Yeah. And what did we do? Store
some for later? I don't... I guess we put fluoride
on our teeth and just forgot to rinse. I don't
know. Mouthwash and nothing else. Boy. Yeah,
Chet, I don't have an answer for you on that,
but I thought it was funny enough to repeat.
And yeah, I love that as a closer for this episode.
I felt like that strong will go out on the fluoride
comment. Folks, the Tigers have a best of three
series to wind this whole thing down. 2025 has
been an absolutely insane season up to now. I
hope it extends well beyond. I hope we get a
lot of postseason play. If we don't, this has
been a ton of fun. Regardless, Bill and I will
be back to cover whatever happens after this
series. Try to enjoy yourself some noontime baseball
over the next two to three days. Hopefully it's
only two. Go Tigers! Alright, that's gonna do
it for this episode of the Litterbox, a Detroit
Tigers podcast. Thanks for hanging out with us.
We're Bill and Chet. We'll be back soon with
more Tigers Talk. If you're enjoying the show,
be sure to follow or subscribe on Spotify, Apple
Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
And hey, if you got a minute, leave us a quick
review. Until next time, Go Tigers!