I feel like this season went better and worse than expected. Guys, I'm really frustrated and there were a lot of tears of frustration cried. Some days, I almost wish Jim's "baseball gods" existed, just so there was someone to blame; something that might be causing this, rather than just dumb luck.
The Tigers were not going to be making a playoff run. I didn't expect that. But we were down and then we were kicked lower. Oh, you already have a young team? Well, play most of the year without Miguel Cabrera. Let's injure your rotation a bunch, have your over-paid veteran continue to underperform, and your other two pitchers not be all that great.
We basically played the entire year with a Triple - A team.
Super frustrating.
But we were a much better team than the numbers indicate. Despite not having a good rotation for most of the year, despite having a Triple - A team, despite not having Miguel, we played hard. Here's a number for you: 52.
We played 52 one-run games. Yes, we lost more than we won, but we were in those games until the last out, many times having the tying or winning run on base. Some might say that those facts show how bad we were. I disagree. Our Triple - A Tigers fought hard.
There were mistakes. Grueling mistakes at terrible times. There was awful luck, when everything was going wrong for us and right for the other teams. Nothing would land for us and every bloop and blimer landed for them. For some reason, that's the way things tend to go. If you're bad, everything possible is going to seem to go wrong. If you're good, it all goes right. (Unless you're the Tigers. Then it doesn't matter. Sorry, still bitter from 2013).
This was a year of personal development. Castellanos continues to improve and mature. And, I'm sorry, but I just don't understand how he grades out so poorly. He's supposedly one of the worst right fielders in the game. Sometimes I wonder if the numbers accurately represent reality.
The bullpen, guys! The bullpen was really pretty good. Guys made leaps and bounds out there. Don't worry about Greene. No one is more upset than he is and I have to believe that he'll figure it out this off-season and come back like the 2017 Shane Greene. Jimenez is looking impressive and a bunch of other guys either solidified their standings as solid relievers or really showed up.
It was a brutal year. But every day it was a new day and I could believe (for the most part) that we could win that day. It's been said that the White Sox are a year ahead of the Tigers in the rebuild process. Well, guess who was ahead of whom at the end of the year? People keep saying it's going to be years until the Tigers are even decent again. After this year, with what I saw and heard, I don't believe it even more than I did at the beginning of the season.
Look, really look, at how we played. Think about what could happen if most of these guys stay here and play again together next year under the same coaching staff. You know they'll all be working hard this off-season, many of them playing winter ball to grow even more. We just might win more of those 1-run games and maybe even be a threat to teams. I'm not saying we win the division, but maybe put some pressure on the leading team. I don't think it's that much of a stretch.
Especially if a couple of things actually go our way for once. Baseball is skill, yes, but it sure seems to be an awful lot of luck as well.
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