2021 - The Best Losing Season I've Seen

Finally, there is a light at the end of the tunnel. To be honest, it is hard to believe it's been five years of rebuilding. In some ways, it doesn't seem like it's been that long, and in other ways, winning seasons and teams seem like a distant memory. I cannot believe what I watched this year!

The Tigers should not have done as well as they did. We dug ourselves a hole in April and never quite got out of it, but we got close to .500 a couple of different times. The last week to 10 days of the season were disappointing, to say the least, especially with how September started. But we had four winning months and we could have been much, much worse.

Imagine with me for a moment, if we had not had Tyler Alexander. What if Mize/Manning/Skubal had gone through rookie struggles or regressions? Can you imagine what our season would have looked like? Each time we had an injury that could have sunk us, someone (or multiple someones) stepped up. Help came from places you wouldn't have expected. Late in the season, we lost two of our late inning guys and the rest of the 'pen closed ranks. Could we have won some games we ended up losing if we had Soto and Cisnero? Maybe, but it's just speculation. Maybe they would have had rough days for those games too.

I'm sure there are some really ugly numbers for the 2021 season. I know there are areas that still need improvement. One that everyone will be talking about is offense. During the last two weeks, especially, we left way too many guys on base and in scoring position. We could have won if we could have scored those runners. But I submit to you that we have a VERY young offense. We have young guys and guys with not much Major League experience. Our catchers for most of the year were rookies. Our outfield is mostly rookies or guys with only a few years of experience. Commentators want more home runs but we tried that recipe for almost 10 years and it didn't work. Now we have a team who can walk, steal bases, and still hit some home runs. Want to know which team had the most triples this year? The Tigers. In all of baseball! Home runs are not everything. If you can't get guys on, you only score one run at a time. Not the best recipe for winning. 

I'm not saying don't sign guys if they can help, but I'd rather see the Tigers work with some of the talent they have to improve hitting. Don't go after a guy if all he does is hit for power. I would love to see guys who walk and hit doubles. Guys who are smart about the strike zone. Remember, we have a very young team. Learning the strike zone takes time. It takes practice. It takes experience. 

There will be new faces next spring, but I hope we don't walk away from what got started this season. I think there is a lot of promise here; a lot of hope. The Tigers have grit and that goes a long way too. All things considered, this was the best losing season I've lived through. Everyday felt like a chance to win. We had things to play for and, of course, don't forget about the season Miggy had. 2021 was an exciting baseball season and here's hoping it is the catalyst for even better seasons, starting in 2022.

One Month In...

We are just about one month into the season, so let's see where we are at, shall we?

First, I think that the schedulers can not give any scheduled off days in April and maybe even May, since the weather will give you them anyway. Save those off days for later in the season when we're making up all these rain/snow-outs and need a break. But that's not about the Tigers.

I know, it's still early, but the Tigers are blowing all the expectations away. I don't think anyone was expecting this. Really early on, it was our pitching and defense carrying the team and all our wins came when Shane Greene closed a game. (Seriously, how amazing has he been? Did anyone see that coming?)

The rotation was kind of in flux after losing Michael Fulmer. And don't get me wrong, we still miss him. Just imagine how much better we'd be with him. But Zimmermann looks like he just might be good this year, Moore and Ross were turning out to be surprisingly solid (before we lost Moore), Boyd is just astonishing and is going to be our rock it seems, and Turnbull is performing amazingly well for a guy who has barely started above Double A before joining the rotation. With Moore out, now Norris will finally get a chance to show what he can do when he's healthy. I'm excited for him.

The bullpen hasn't been too shabby! Besides Greene's dominance, we've had surprising contributions from guys like Farmer and Alcantra. VerHagen has been injured for a few weeks, so he is a bit behind the others and our Rule 5 guy, Reed Garrett, is holding his own so far (future blog post on the RUle 5 to come). Jimenez is scuffling right now but he'll figure it out and get back to being our lock-down eighth inning guy.

You look at the Tigers' position players and it's not that impressive. We don't have a lot of big names but these guys come to play and play with grit. Our catchers are throwing out everybody! It's not going to be long before teams just stop running on us. Early on, (and this is actually still the case), it all came down to pitching and defense. If either or both were having an off-day, we probably weren't going to win.

Ahh, the offense. It's an enigma. Once again, the contributions are coming from surprising places. Christin Stewart, before he got hurt, and Niko Goodrum were two of our best bats early on. Pretty much everyone is struggling to get going. Castellanos and Cabrera are still homer-less. It's odd but not worrisome. No one expects this to go on much longer. Harrison getting dropped from the lead-off seems to be helping him and hopefully he can take this back when he gets moved back up.

We've had quite a few injuries already this year, some that have taken out our guy for the season, but we were a cobbled together team to begin with, so more young guys doesn't change much. No one expected much from this Tigers team but they don't care what anyone expects. They come to play and give it their all. So far, it's keeping them relevant and interesting to watch. You have a feeling they can win almost any game. Most of their games have been close and they are doing well in the late innings and extra innings. It's exciting and I think even the most dour critics are having to sit up and take notice.

There is a lot of season left and anything can happen, but so far, this Tigers team is encouraging and fun to watch. They make you believe they just might be a force in the Central. Playoff bound? Probably not. But making other teams sweat and work for their places? Sure thing! 

The Nightmare Is Over

I never thought I'd be glad to have a baseball season end. I hope to never feel this way again. My friend, trying to be optimistic, said, "The Tigers get the number one draft pick." Yes, and it's nice that they get something good out of this mess, but I'd rather not have the number one draft pick, if given the choice. 

This year was a nightmare. But even in the middle of that, there was good. The best and biggest things happened at the end of the season: the Tigers first triple play in sixteen years and Andrew Romine becoming just the fifth player in MLB history to play all nine positions in one game. Those were moments to treasure amidst upheaval and heartbreak. 

You might wonder why there is a picture of a sunrise. To me, the sunrise is a symbol of hope. Despite projections, despite anything anyone says, next season is a fresh start. To borrow from Anne of Green Gables, "the next season is always fresh, with no mistakes in it". I look forward to next season with anticipation. Maybe more than in previous years because of how badly we ended. 

February is a new start.

Stop Booing Players

We were playing the Baltimore Orioles and knocking Chris Tillman around. I was happy because the Tigers were winning. The Orioles fans were decidedly UN-happy. And they were making sure Tillman knew it. I actually felt bad for him.

WHAT ARE WE TRYING TO PROVE?

Imagine for a moment that you had a responsibility/job to do. The only person that this affected was you, but you were failing at it. You would feel terrible. You would feel like a failure. Now imagine that you have a job that affects approximately 30 people immediately around you and tens of thousands of others. Oh, and you get paid a LOT of money to do this job. Now when you fail, it feels even worse.

Do you see? Chris Tillman, and any other baseball player struggling, is essentially failing at his job right now. He's probably beyond frustrated. He knows he's letting his teammates down, his manager down, the fans down, and it's probably killing him. So what do players who are struggling need from the fans? The last thing they need is us voicing our frustrations. That's all booing them accomplishes. It tells them we are unhappy and makes them feel even worse. It doesn't improve the situation at all. 

TRY TO BUILD THEM UP 

What if, instead of booing when they fail, we cheer loudly and exuberantly when they succeed? Even if it's throwing a strike, let them know we appreciate when they do a good job. Because they already know we are frustrated. (And we are not more frustrated than they are). Rather than complain about how terrible someone is doing on our social media platforms, find something good that they are doing and praise them for it (and tag them too!). There is pretty much ALWAYS something good and positive to find, if you know how to look for it. 

LET'S BE HAPPY

Baseball is a game almost designed to bring heartache and sorrow all on its own. Why should we create more discord by our words? I implore the baseball fans - look for the good. Search long and hard if you have to, but try to find at least one good thing in a bad start, in a loss, in a crummy season. You have no idea how much it will improve your overall attitude toward the game, the players, and even life.