Pitching

I am blown away.

This is not what I expected. It's not even what I hoped for.

Our pitching is... dominating.

Let's be honest for a moment. There wasn't a lot certain about our pitching going into this year. You know what you'll get from Fulmer, but he has to stay healthy. Boyd you had a pretty solid idea of, and in the bullpen, your only certainties were Alex Wilson and Shane Greene. The rest? Huge question marks. 

Would Zimmermann be the pitcher of the first month of his career with the Tigers? What would new acquisitions Mike Fiers and Francisco Liriano do? Who would get the fifth starter job? And the bullpen was even more unknown.

I almost wonder if all the low expectations and rejection of sorts of the Tigers are making the guys want to prove something. There are zero expectations for this team. That hasn't been the case in years. Maybe that makes a difference. 

Our starting pitching is strong. Yes, we're losing, but it's early and unusually cold for this time of year, so I'm not worried about our bats. But our pitching is keeping us in every game. During the spring, based on what I was reading and hearing from Jim and Dan, I was not happy about Fiers and Liriano. They sounded like they were going to be hindrances. Not as such so far. They have turned out two solid starts each. 

The bullpen has been quiet incredible. There has been a hiccup here and there, but overall, guys are shutting down the opposing batters. We really didn't know what a lot of these guys were capable of, or they had been so up and down, you never knew what you'd get. 

It's early. Pitching is going to go into slumps. But look at how these guys are doing when it's cold and they can't feel their hands or grip the ball. I think there performance in these conditions are very promising for us going forward. 

No one is expecting anything great from us this year. I just wonder if these guys have set out to prove the baseball world wrong.