Snakebit!

Tiger fans endure yet another season of futility

By Ken DeLaat

“The key to winning baseball games is pitching, fundamentals, and three run homers.”- Earl Weaver

OK I was wrong about the Tigers.
Way way wrong.
With the additions to the lineup and a young pitching staff on the cusp of possible greatness and even a shored up bullpen who can blame me?
This was the breakout year, the season that would dull the memory of the past several summers and even if the team didn’t  make the playoffs they might at least make a run at it.
And yet here we sit watching a team with apparent potential mired 13 games under .500, 11 games out of first place and 10 from a wild card spot at the halfway point of the season.
​And that's after a 4 game win streak.
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Three throwers who were expected to be part of the starting rotation are out. For The Season! And the ace acquired via free agency has apparently disappeared since mid June, leaving the team in order to deal with family issues, according to reports.
Despite this disaster the pitching has been more than adequate, with starters keeping them in most games and a relief corps that has been better than any bullpen at Comerica Park since…well…since they moved to the current digs I’d bet. Or at least since Jones, Zumaya, Walker and Rodney helped the ‘06 team into the Series.
But the hitting has been atrocious all season and the injury list seems to grow each day. 

Here we are once again hitting mid season with no realistic aspirations of anything but another ‘wait 'til next year’ frame of mind. The sweep of the Cleveland squad that has dominated the Tig’s in recent years is a good sign perhaps. And Riley Greene is the real deal. The kid can play the game and seems to have made his team better by his presence. Cabrera is no longer the long ball threat each time he enters the box, but he’s hitting over .300 and leads the team in RBI’s. Schoop and Haase are showing some signs of life, Baez has looked better of late and most of the team has finally climbed above Mendoza.
But now they face the Sox who swept them in late June by a cumulative score of 27-6.

Being a diehard I will continue to follow, of course, while knowing that to even reach the .500 mark this season the team would need to go 47-34 in the second half. Not impossible but with a patchwork rotation, and a struggling offense only the most optimistic among us can envision such a turnaround.
Particularly since the team will be looking to stock the farm before the trade deadline, dumping anyone who might not be in the plans for ‘23 as they once again hit mid summer as sellers rather than buyers.

In the meantime we can watch the development of Greene, hope for Torkleson to find more consistency and see if Roger’s kid Kody will make a case for sticking with the Big Club.
And if you’re really discouraged by this snake-bit season the Tigers are weathering?
We’re just 5 weeks away from the pre-season opener.
Go Lions!

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