DETROIT – I’m sent a tweet on Saturday night that remarked that the Detroit Tigers were not only in a position to make the playoffs, they would actually host a home game in the first round when the season ended at that point.
It got more than 1,000 likes. A count.
Well, it’s now Monday morning and the Tigers (8-5) would still qualify for the playoffs as the season ends today, and they would still host a first round game.
People are starting to get excited, and understandably so. The Detroit sports landscape has been barren for months. Attention has not yet shifted to football, and there may not even be a college football season in 2020.
That there is no reason to throw cold water on early enthusiasm. But it is worth noting that the Tigers of 2019 held the same record (8-5) through 13 games of the season and were one of the worst teams in modern baseball history (47-114).
The Tigers have played seven games against some pretty bad teams (the Kansas City Royals and Pittsburgh Pirates) and six games against a good team (Cincinnati Reds) that has yet to get on course.
This week’s home series against the Chicago White Sox will be a good test against a divisional opponent that the Tigers will face 10 times in the shortened season.
“We are repairing to run a really good baseball team. You start judging where you are when you face a team like the (White Sox), ”said Tigers manager Ron Gardenhire.
For the moment, however, the Tigers are in a good place. Fourth place in the American League, to be exact. And they got there by doing what playoff teams have to do: Party on inferior opponents.
Here are four takeaways from their weekend sweep in Pittsburgh.
1. Barreling of the baseball.
The Tigers make contact less often than any other team in baseball, with a strikeout of 29.9 percent.
But when they made contact, they got their money’s worth.
The Tigers have a hard hit of 46 percent, by far the best in baseball. The next closest team, the New York Yankees, is at 40.8 percent.
That is an incredible achievement for a club that was almost completely in love with power in 2019.
The metrics are fairly consistent: If only contact is considered, the Tigers are one of the highest rated teams in baseball. When the Tigers’ lack of walks and extreme strikes figures in the comparison, the offense falls back in the middle of the pack.
In any case, for a club that has failed too much en Power in 2019, the early data represent a step in the right direction.
2. … And now Miguel
Miguel Cabrera rode in the lead in the eighth inning on Sunday. It wasn’t a home run, but it was a good piece to beat.
With a runner on second base (helped by a wild pitch that went about 25 feet behind Cabrera’s head), Cabrera worked the count up to 3-2 and blew one end past the shortstop on the left side of the infield.
“Every game is enormous, every hit is enormous,” said Tigers catcher Austin Romine. “You go back to that inning with Miggy with a professional at-bat. He comes through with a bang. When we go places, it’s on its back. ”
Cabrera is strikingly more than normal (26 percent of the plate appears), but he also strikes with force.
In 2016, the last time he left consistent Miggy-like power on the plate, he finished with 38 home games – as nearly one every 18 PAs. This year, he has four homers – one every 13.5 PAs.
Yes, some of the long balls might have been considered first-rate cheap instead of monster blasts, but check out Cabrera’s Statcast data: He’s among the top four percent of all MLB hits in dropout rate and hard hit percentage.
It’s too early to explain that Miggy’s glory days are here again. Three years of decay do not normally return abruptly in the blink of an eye. But it’s encouraging and, like many of the positive signs this year, it’s worth following.
“He means everything to us,” said Tigers manager Ron Gardenhire. “When Miggy is in those big situations, I prefer him to be on top of everyone on our team, because he will stay inside the ball most of the time or throw up the middle. Or if they hang something, he’ll pull the fool out. I love it when he’s in that situation. He did exactly what I hoped he would do (Sunday) and what I thought he would do. ”
3. Mr. Professional.
Austin Romine has not received the same attention as the other two Tigers acquisitions – CJ Cron and Jonathan Schoop – but he has been just as valuable.
In addition to a constant presence behind the plate, he is also hit.
Remember, the Tigers’ expectations in this regard were very low. After the Tigers’ catchers combined to hit .176 with a .525 OPS and a whopping 203 strikeouts in 2019, they needed an upgrade.
Romine, coming off the best offensive season of his career with the Yankees in 2019, has continued his progress, going 10-for-32 through the early part of the season. And yes, if you look at his Statcast data, you will see a familiar story: A ton of strikeouts and almost no walks. But when he makes contact, it is hard contact.
Romine sums up his philosophy like this: “I try what I can beat and not try what I can not beat.”
4. A much needed bounce-back for Joe.
Tigers pitcher Michael Fulmer watched the game from the stands in Pittsburgh on Friday night and had enjoyed a running conversation with the MLB replay official.
The official began to pack his game with two outs at the bottom of the ninth inning after Tigers closer Joe Jimenez had beaten the first two fighters.
“Do not do that,” warned Fulmer.
It was apparently too late to avoid the jinx, as Jimenez went on to give up two singles and a home team, sending the game to extra innings. (The Tigers eventually won in 11).
Afterwards, Fulmer said, “I made sure he stayed in his chair.”
Jimenez needed a bounce-back performance after Friday night, and he got it on Sunday in a one-run ball game. He grabbed a 1-2-3 ninth, knocking out the last two fires he faced.
“The ball came out of his hand well. He left, throwing some nasty shovels at the judges. That was the field he did not really find the next day, but it was dirty (Sunday), ”said Gardenhire. ‘He will be fine. It’s early and he’s trying to get ground here. ”
Gardenhire does not like changes from outbursts, but the rise of Gregory Soto gives him another option than Jimenez would falter.
But Soto can actually be more helpful – and end up in more situations with high lift pressure – by balling around the sixth, seventh and eighth innings. The Tigers fit him effectively on Saturday against the heart of the Pirates’ order and they could do the same against teams that have a series of tough lefties.
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