00:04all right so what a difference a week makes when it comes to the detroit tigers last week we were
00:08getting ready to go into the big series against the white socks started going into the weekend
00:13uh and the tigers one of the hotter teams in baseball they were like eight and two over the
00:17last 10 games then they get swept by the white socks they split the first two games here with
00:21with pittsburgh they're five and five in their last 10 games and yet they find themselves in a
00:26very similar situation just they're four and a half games out of first place in the division
00:31but they're also in fourth place in the division because that's how tight things are the twins are
00:36in second place four games back and the tigers and the guardians are at four and a half back
00:41and then kansas is 13 back then you look at the wild card standings and the third wild card place
00:50belongs with the texas rangers with a 62 and 64 record so under 500 for the final spot
00:58uh then they are followed by the twins and the blue jays a half game behind them and then the
01:04guardians orioles and tigers are all one game behind them and then seattle is three games behind
01:10although after you lose 22 to nothing i feel like you should maybe be eight games behind yeah yeah i
01:14think that that's a bigger penalty that's gonna leave a mark uh we'll get into that story later
01:20because that's a wild one but this is where they're at um they're still very much in competition
01:26for a playoff spot they're still in competition uh for the division spot okay the white socks series
01:32that hurts and i know you are troubled by that series that triggered you as a fan no it it
01:38it did
01:39look i'm excited about today's matchup to last second and last two years number one prospects
01:45doing battle today job and skeins but i really lost a lot of my will for this season with the
01:52white socks i was so amped up for that series i wasn't thinking the tigers were going to sleep them
01:59i i kept saying to myself shut up to all the people saying if they sweep the white socks you're
02:04going to be in first you're not going to sweep the white socks but win the series we set it
02:09all last week you and i that you know we go win two out of three both series to get
02:14swept kind of
02:16killed a lot of my juice for the season to the point where in this pirate series instead of watching
02:21all
02:21of the games i'm watching three or four innings of the games and um gator what can i what can
02:29you
02:29offer me to be back in on this team hook line and sinker because i feel like the second wild
02:37card
02:38winner is essentially the biggest loser in the american league at this point i find myself having
02:44some sellers remorse about casey mys not tarik skuble i feel like they need casey mys on this team
02:51i feel like i i was wanting them to keep casey mys on this team and i'm upset that they
02:55didn't
02:55and i'm just kind of i'm feeling listless about this team right now well i wouldn't i think this is
03:02a
03:02playoff team i think they're a playoff caliber team for sure but i think there's a lot of teams in
03:06in the american league that are in the same boat as is evident by all these teams are competing for
03:10that last spot i hope they get that last spot and i don't care if which wild card spot it
03:17is if it's
03:17the last wild card spot i don't care get in there because the experience is is valuable i i when
03:24i was
03:24younger and you heard the term about experience matters and i'm like no it doesn't it's just that's
03:28that's a myth it's crap or whatever and as years go on you realize oh no as you get more
03:32experienced
03:33you realize the experience matters and for a team that has this many rookies on it right now
03:39contributing i think would be incredible if they were to get to the postseason to gain some of that
03:44experience so that when this team is ready to really compete for a world series when they've got
03:50this roster filled out the way it needs to be to be that competitive that they can they can do
03:55it
03:55because they've already have the knowledge of what it means to play in a postseason as far as
04:01you know what has to happen here i look i'm not going to tell you how to feel that's i'm
04:07not in
04:07that i'm not in that business tell people how they should feel i'll tell you how i feel and why
04:12i'm
04:12excited about this is because this is a young team a very young team and they're playing a brand of
04:18baseball that's attractive they aside from last night they typically hit the ball very well they
04:24spray it to all fields they hit the ball out of the ballpark they have great team speed they've played
04:28better team defense in the second half than they did in the first half their pitching staff is
04:34normally pretty good i like this brand of baseball this brand of baseball plays and they're they should
04:40add to this team and make them better but what i really like about this team is that they've been
04:46plotting their way to get here they're not doing it by going off on these crazy runs and these crazy
04:52streaks they've just been very very methodical go out and win a win a series you know here they are
04:58on the
04:58road where they won seven straight road series got a chance here again if they win this afternoon
05:03it'll be eight and this is just what they do they're winning two out of three games or they're
05:08winning six out of ten games but it's that same pace it's slow and steady this is the tortoise and
05:14the hare and right now they are the tortoise they're not the hare and i think that's that's important
05:19to keep in mind because it helps you look more at the big picture as opposed to living and dying
05:26every single game with this team what you mentioned about you know the value to the team
05:32i can't argue with that one iota i'm more selfishly thinking about it from my own fan perspective you
05:39open the season with world series aspirations and now i feel like you're telling me to get excited
05:45about scraps about an appetizer where's the main course i feel like i've been punched in the gut with
05:53this team and then i'm looking at the roster and i'm looking at the pitching staff and i you know
05:58it's okay so you make it to the playoffs something you've already done are you going to win a round
06:03no most likely not i i tend to be the positive guy and i just i feel like uh i
06:13don't know man
06:13well they were the underdog the last two years in the first round of playoffs and they won each round
06:18so what's different about this one no it's the same thing no scoble no mys very little starting
06:25pitching um but it's a better lineup perhaps too many injuries too many injuries you know like it's
06:31riley green went down at the wrong time i that white socks series took so much out of me man
06:37i mean i i went
06:38into that at a 10 level fever pitch here we go again the cardiac tigers here here we go gritty
06:44tikes
06:45and then it just it it stripped a lot of the joy from it well i do have there are
06:49some cautionary
06:50tales to be told and i do have one massive cautionary uh you know just i'm not going to get
06:56to look too far ahead i'll get to that coming up in eight minutes let's get to the phones 248
07:00-539-9797
07:01dan is in detroit dan welcome to 971 hey morning guys first time caller appreciate you having me on
07:08thanks dan hey i just wanted to call in a couple things man um you know i think both you
07:14gents have great points um for me i think the the straw that broke my back was was the stock
07:20series
07:21as well it just it was kind of the last straw for me um and but i i do think
07:27you bring up some
07:28really great points as far as you know how young this team is and how it would be uh beneficial
07:34for
07:34them to gain that experience uh in the postseason whether it's just first round or not um and kind
07:40of build off that that's the silver lining um but it's just you know for me as a fan after
07:45that stock
07:46series i just kind of you know uh i've moved on i'm looking forward to the lions you know looking
07:51forward to their season um and uh and we'll see how how next season pans out for the tigers and
07:58then
07:58the other thing i just wanted to add um just a caveat i could definitely feel um you know i
08:03dropped
08:03my son off last week for college he uh he's going to play football at a you know small d3
08:09in new york
08:10and uh we're super excited about him super proud but man that was that was rough you know you you
08:16uh
08:16you spend 18 years teaching them how to how to live without you but then nobody teaches you how to
08:21live
08:21without them once they're gone it's rough is this your uh first kid going to going to college
08:26so yeah it's our first kid you know i joined the military back when i was 17 man i i
08:31was i was dumb i i quit
08:33school and i joined the navy and it changed my life forever so i'm super you know um super uh
08:39appreciative of that so um but yeah he's he's our first going to college and um you know we're we're
08:44a tight-knit family and you know um it's almost like a death i know that's super dramatic but i
08:51don't
08:51know i like i have no i've never you know experiencing i've done you know five deployments to iraq i've
08:56done
08:57a lot of stuff in my life and i had no emotions to describe you know what we went through
09:02uh and
09:03of course you know going through football camp whether it's d3 or d1 you know i mean it sucks
09:08and he's he's like oh i made it you know i i hate it i don't know if i love
09:12football i'm like well
09:13you made a commitment so i'm no i'm no therapist here dan i'm no therapist here dan but i would
09:19say
09:19that i i hope that you're able to separate the feelings you had when you had to go away
09:24from the feelings that your son having to go away it's not the same going away
09:30i mean when you went away and thank you for your service i think that's what he's doing yeah
09:35there was a chance that you weren't coming back and thank god you did your son will be back and
09:39you know for thanksgiving or whatever break is going on you know what i mean but he right but uh
09:46good luck to you and thanks for sharing appreciate that but he brings up an interesting point you know
09:50about the transition fans make from baseball season to football season and i guess gator i'm kind
09:56of there you know like i'm in my mind i am shifting into lion's mode not away from tiger's mode
10:02there
10:02you're still firmly in the tiger's mode category 248-539-9797 this is 97.1
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