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Welcome back to the Litterbox, a Detroit Tigers
podcast, American league division round edition.
And boy, do we have a few things to talk about
that have surfaced from two very exciting games
in Seattle. If not lacking offense at times,
they think. The Tigers have sort of met their
match in the department of inconsistent offensive
output. I think Seattle is a little different
from our Tigers, and that they rely on the power
game. Our Tigers live on the edges, as we said
earlier in the season, and that's when they succeed.
We saw it a little bit in game one. We didn't
see it so much in game two. Bill, what are you
learning from these first two games of the ALDS?
that maybe we didn't pick up in the wild card.
Well, I think that solidly the Tigers exhaled
just getting past the Guardians as we all thought
they would. They just, that was the worst matchup
they could have had for that wild card series.
After playing that team six times, a hundred
percent losing the division. And so now you face
a Mariners team that the last time we played
against them, we being the Tigers was just before
the All -Star break. And before that, it was
the second series of the year. So One of the
things that I'm really enjoying is it's fresh.
And I also love that, though I wish the Tigers
had won game two, they won game one, three to
two, they lost game two, three to two. But it
was so refreshing to see the Seattle fans so
engaged in their first playoff win in 20 years.
And it was just neat because it's not Stephen
Kwan and Ramirez just again and again. It's just
them burning us again and again. Somebody else
this time. The teams are really built very similarly,
Chet. The difference being that the Mariners
were more aggressive at the trade deadline, but
any team could have been more aggressive than
the Tigers. So let's not punch that bag. My question
to you is, why is this Tigers team allergic to
advancing runners when they're in scoring position?
What has happened there? Because This was not
the Tigers from the first half of the year. First
half of the year, as we said, they lived on the
edges, you know, they played the game on the
edges. They took the extra base. They weren't
stealing. They weren't swiping bags, but they
definitely would stretch a single to a double,
stretch a guy from first to third, get him into
scoring position and thus bring him home at that
point. We seem to be lacking. When a guy gets
to second or third, it's like the hitter. presses
way too much. It's almost like they know like,
I got to get this guy in. It's the playoffs and
I got to, are they not up to the moment? Or is
it bad luck? Or is it just the ebb and flow of
the game? Like I was sitting here watching these
guys come like, how could you do this three months
ago? And you can't do it now. It's very frustrating
as a fan to watch this happen. So a couple of
things I think are happening. Has the approach
changed maybe? Well, There's a couple of things
going on. Number one, this team strikes out way
too much. It starts with their best player, Riley
Green. And, you know, if you've looked at Dylan
Dingler, who still had a remarkable season, he
doesn't walk. And that's a huge issue because
at this level, and when you're in the divisional
round of the playoffs, which is awesome, you're
going to face better pitching. And if they know
you can't lay off some of their slop or some
of their trickery, You're gonna do what Dingler
did yesterday, which is look hapless against
some Mariner pitching. And what I can't figure
out is why this team isn't hitting sacrifice
flies or why when there's a man on second and
third, they hit a grounder to the shortstop.
Like why? Can they not try to at least it's it's
bad situational hitting to yeah, they're not
hitting behind the runner Yes, they're hitting
into do I so my my others the other side of this
is you know, I think they're young I we do have
to remember how young and how little MLB experience
most of this lineup has Outside of Gleyber Torres
and Javier Baez whoo if I can give yeah, I'm
with you. Yeah I still say that Javier Baez was
our MVP in the wild card round from a positional
player. I can accept that. Scoobs was obviously
the man, you know, from a pitching standpoint.
The other portion of that is I think the Tigers
are playing better now because Torres is back
in the leadoff spot. Could be. Could be. Even
if he doesn't hit, which he doesn't, his power's
gone. He seems very stubborn in his approach,
but the one thing that Gleybar Torres has done
all season, he takes pitches. Yeah. Yeah. And
it's, you've seen, as the season goes on, our
on -base percentage has started to dwindle. Our
on -base percentage, our OPS have all started
to drop off a little bit. They don't walk. Our
patience has left the building. I felt like we
started the season off with more patience. And
as the season's gone on, it's like they press
and they press and they press to probably keep
up with our expectations to some degree. I do
think they're pressing a bit and they're young.
So being able to identify the situation and things
of that, maybe they don't have that veteran presence.
Now, I was watching a game with my wife last
night and she goes, who is this baby faced little
young guy? And I sat there, he didn't say little,
she said young. And I said, I was, oh, that's
Riley Green. He's one of the youngest players
in the team, but he's also our star on the offensive
side of the ball. And she was like, oh, you got,
she goes, he looks like he's 20 years old. I
got 24. I was like, but you're not far off. And
she sat there and said, he strikes out a little
too much. Like he didn't, he hasn't developed
his plate approach in his eye to its fullest
yet. You got three years till this guy's at his
peak. OK, that's that's kind of an eternity if
you think about it. And many of the other guys,
Kerry Carpenter hasn't been in the majors that
long. He's not as young, but he's been in the
majors for the same duration of time that Riley
Green has been in the majors. They were basically
rookies same year. I think maybe one of them
got a little cup of coffee before the other.
But Dylan Dingler, less service time. facing
major league pitching. This is his first full
season in the major leagues. So you're looking
at this lineup. I go down the lineup, Colt Keith,
second major league season. So it's Spencer Torkelson.
He's probably been on, he's probably been around
the longest by about one year. I mean, Torque's
been up there for about three or four years now.
So you start looking across these guys, Parker
Meadows, even less time. Yes. So you gotta, you
gotta line up that is not Seasoned yet. We'll
put it that way. It's and they need more seasoning
in these big moments. It's not a stand It's not
a finished product. It's not a finished product
and I do think like you're gonna hear the excuses
I think they'll be lesser now that we've made
it to the division series which in and of itself
seems to be somewhat of a victory for this season
for this team but because it didn't look like
that was gonna happen for a while to get this
far, but you look at some of these guys you're
like man, they've They really don't have the
experience to fall back on. I mean, even Scoobal,
he's had two and a half good seasons under his
belt right now. Prior to two and a half years
ago, Scoobal was not the pitcher he is now. He
was so young and still developing and he was
hurt. He had been hurt for a year or two when
he first came out. So there is an aspect. From
a fan standpoint, as hard as it is to say it,
we have to have a little patience. We have to
have a little grace. But it's no less infuriating
to watch it happen because you just want them
to do it now because they're in the playoffs.
Two years in a row, Division Series. If they
get past the Division Series this year, I will
officially call the 2025 season a success. I
would as well. I think it's I think it's almost
they're getting to the Division Series. At least
we didn't step back from last year. And I would
say overall on the season, we had a better season.
We just had bad September. They can't do what
they did last season, which is go up 2 -1 over
the Mariners. Yeah. Which would happen if they
won Tuesday and then lose the series like they
did to the Guardians last year. They really got
to put this thing away in Detroit. If they go
up 2 -1, and they did in terms of they took one
of the two games in Seattle. You know, now they
have home field advantage. You're right. The
problem is that yesterday's game was there for
the taking and it's unrealistic to expect Scoobl
to allow no earned runs every time he goes out.
Yeah. He allowed two solo shots and they were
good hit balls when you're throwing a hundred
miles an hour. Guys are if they connect it's
going out of the art. It's just physics Then
the number one thing in the playoffs that a team
has to do is take advantage of an opportunity
when it presents itself Exactly in the playoffs
letting an opportunity slide by you don't know
when you're gonna get it again You're playing
good teams good pitching good offenses typically
you can't let it slide by in this team Let an
opportunity or two slide by earlier in the game
yesterday. Yeah, they were once again anemic
with runners in scoring position, just like they
were the previous night, but ended up pulling
it through towards the end of the game. You know,
you're seeing some battles here. I mean, you
got one run games, both games. I think they're
emptying bullpens. I mean, it's crazy. Last night
or in game one, the Tigers used eight pitchers
and the Mariners used seven. So this is a no
holds barred situation for both teams now. You're
seeing everybody gets to play. And they're throwing
all sorts of things at the matchup while trying
to figure out who can get who out. It's been
fascinating to watch. I still don't know that
we're up to it. If we make it to the ALCS, I'm
going to tip my cap to this team because I think
they will have over achieved. to a degree for
what they're throwing out there. Now the problem
everybody's basing this on is like Scubal's timeline
because he's all world ace pitcher and everybody
wants us to do something when we've got Scubal
on the squad and you only get one more season
to him after this and I think that's short -sighted
to a degree. There's nothing to say that Troy
Melton who looked quite nice in game one and
in other previous appearances in the season and
Rhys Olsen comes back healthy, let's hope, and
you know you've got a couple pictures that could
come up and be the next Scoobal is what I'm saying.
Not saying it's going to happen. Just saying
there's some potential there. So I see you brought
up a really interesting point as well for the
fact that you talk about Scoobal really. It's
a small sample size of how much excellence he's
had. Yeah. Again, whoever signs him to this monster
contract and you and I. firmly believe it will
not be the Tigers. And I don't know that that's
a bad thing, because I don't know that what he's
doing, Tarek Schubel, is sustainable long -term.
And it could be a flash in the pan. History would
tell you it's not sustainable. Yeah, yeah. And
here's, we talk about the Tigers' young hitting.
Keith Beauregard's the hitting coach. His age
is 37, which makes him young for a hitting coach.
I mean, young for a hitting coach. Yeah. I want
to bring another topic up here and just watching
Seattle, all the trades they made at the deadline
this past year. I'm not seeing too many of those
guys show up and do anything in this series so
far. Suarez would not have been a great signing
for us. He's doing nothing. He would have added
to our problems of striking out. Exactly. The
guy's batting 220 -something. I get it. He's
got like 49 home runs, okay? Yeah, but how many
of those happened in the first half of the season?
I think didn't the bulk of those happen when
he was a Diamondback? Yes. So, I mean, we're
letting Cal Raleigh and Julio Rodriguez beat
us up right now. That's fine. They're two of
the best players in the game, and it's to be
expected. I mean, you know, limit their damage
and go from there. So we are back at Co -America.
Upcoming and we will now have three games Potentially,
hopefully it's only two How do you feel about
the matchup between Jack Flaherty and Gilbert
Logan Gilbert? That is This is a tough one. This
is a tough one because Logan Gilbert's there
Tarek scubal. Okay. He's been lights out all
season long He's and now we're getting him in
game three and so the planning that they put
into this to seed him in the middle Kinda looks
genius at this point Flaherty can run with him
if he's got his best stuff going and that's a
big if Flaherty pitched well last time out. He's
had trouble consistently doing that this season
And then for game four, it's interesting. It's
to be to be decided for the Mariners. And we've
got Casey Mize on the bump for the Tigers. So
as much as I would love to say the Tigers take
care of this at home, I think they've got their
work cut out for them. I think they do. And I
think it could be a five game series, which is
what you initially said. I said Tigers in four,
but they did take the game in Seattle. So it's
all there in front of them. This team plays so
much better at Comerica Park because that's truly
where they can utilize their best assets in terms
of running the base as well. And, you know, slowing
the game down to their speed and not relying,
because they're not built to have a big bopper
come up like Cal Raleigh and just clean the bases.
It's not what they do. What they do is they,
I'm doing the bones or the saw the bone saw.
Yeah. They hit doubles and they hit singles and
they hit triples and Allah Torkelson last night
pinning one down the first baseline and driving
into runs. I think it was glorious Those are
the things that they do to to extend the game
to win the game. I did make one error I want
to take something back. I said we're letting
Cal Raleigh and Julio Rodriguez beat us I forgot
to throw one guy in the new mr. October Jorge
Polanco who apparently has scoobles number So
Polanco is another guy we got to throw in there.
They typically are in like the two, three, four
in the order. And it scares me a little bit that
he's heating up. We don't need Polanco heating
up. He's had some good postseason success in
the past. We need somebody on our side to step
up. Kerry Carpenter could be the guy. He could
be the guy. He just seems a little all or nothing
at times at the plate. But maybe Dylan Dingler
finds his stride here in the American League.
Division series. What who do you want to see
heat up a little bit coming home? I think the
biggest news that the Tigers have gotten is that
we do have Colt Keith back And I think that could
be a difference. It's just another he's made
a difference so far solid better. Yeah, and I
He's a non -base percentage guy too. That is
my pick to click. I think I like that next two
games. I like that I'm going with Dingler you
go with Colt And, and I think Carp's a good choice
as well. And it seems like these last few games,
Torque has seen the ball quite well. So let's
hope for that. So all hands on deck. Last shout
out I wanted to give was Brendan Hannafee has
been pitching great and he for whatever reason
gives fits to this Mariners team. So I expect
to see a healthy dose of him in these. the next
two upcoming games as well. And on the other
side of it, the Blue Jays did take both games
at the Rogers Centers from the Yankees in fairly
convincing fashion. What an interesting matchup
that could be, huh? Tigers? Tigers, Blue Jays?
Oh boy, you don't have to tell me that to get
excited. I don't want to look ahead, but boy,
would that be more fun than the Yankees. I can
tell you that much. That's like a dream come
true. I would take their pitching staff. I would
look forward to going up against those guys.
Four and a half hours separate the two cities.
It would be a blast. But let's not count our
chickens. No, no, no, no, no. We got to win two
games here in a row against Seattle. Litterbox
Tigers listeners, we appreciate the support.
Please check out our sister podcast, the Detroit
Lions Litterbox and Go Tigers. 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,
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