It’s Time For Baseball! (Thank God)

By Ken DeLaat

"Love is the most important thing in the world, but baseball is pretty good too." - Yogi Berra

Despite a severely bruised if not busted bracket at least the two in-state teams are in the Sweet Sixteen representing the Big 10 along with the Terps. Sparty made me a bit nervous with that win over the Lobos and the Wolves seemed to be on their way out, down by well into double digits before pulling off one of their patented comeback wins. On the pro side the Pistons have gone from awful to not that bad to playoff locks all in one season. The Wings? Well, another late season collapse via their March malaise has Detroit  hockey aficionados gnashing their teeth.
And now we are ready to see if the Tigers, a team that defied all odds to storm their way into the playoffs last season, are able to build on that improbable run. 

August 10th, a week and a half removed from sending Flaherty their only other healthy starter to the Dodgers, they sat 8 games under .500 and mired in 4th with only the sorrowful Sox farther down in the Central. The starting pitching consisted of Skubal and a cast of thousands. 
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And they went 33-13 down the stretch including a pair of 6 game streaks and 2 of those losses were to the record setting (for losses)  Sox after the Tigers clinched a playoff spot. It was nothing short of phenomenal.
Now they’re back with an actual starting rotation and a couple of additions and tweaks to the lineup.

Optimistic? You bet! But anyone who has known me at any time over my 60+ years as a loyal fan has likely been amused by my sanguine approach to each season. Some years not so much since a decade or so of lousy management tempered my positivity, however the hopefulness has grown since the current leadership from front office to dugout has been spot on with the rebuild. And truthfully, nailing down a playoff spot in the middle of a rebuild is nothing short of remarkable.

What has intrigued me is the lack of respect the Tigers have gotten from most publications and prognosticators. Perhaps it was a fluke but they beat out some pretty fair teams to get to the postseason and they only added to the mix this year. Sure Bregman turned them down to go to the Red Sox but they got there without him last year then knocked he  and his star studded team out in the first round.

Years ago Bill James, who coined the term sabermetrics, referenced how teams that make a big jump generally fall back the following year. And of course he might be correct when it comes to this team. But man, they are scrappers. They’re fun to watch and their game is to play with reckless abandon. They have a wizard for a manager and all that youth is a year older.

They may flounder out of the box, particularly having to begin the season playing the World Champs at Dodger Stadium when LA has already gotten their season underway, but I’m all in this season. If last year taught us anything it’s to not write them off until they hit the magic number in reverse and are eliminated.

There is guarded hope for another successful year and a guarantee that the team they put on the field is going to be entertaining to say the least. And if Jackson Jobe is all he has been touted to be? If Tork finally hits like he is supposed to? If Greene and Carpenter stay healthy? If the bullpen sparkles like the second half of last year? And if Skubal continues like the Cy Young winner he is?

Ok that’s a lot of ifs. But it’s time to play ball and to me there is nothing like a 6 month run of Tiger baseball to take me away from all the bullshit filling up the news cycle these days.
Bless You Boys.

“Whatever the pace of the particular baseball game we are watching, whatever its outcome, it holds us in its own continuum and mercifully releases us from our own.”- Roger Angell. The Summer Game

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Dog and a beer. Playoff game last season,Tigers vs. Guardians with son Nck.