MLB 2022: The Long and Winding Thread

Now on the clock: The Sacramento Kings.

 

A few weeks ago, I speculated that it might be better to be the No 6 seed in the AL rather than the fifth seed because the Guardians would limp into the tournament and wouldn't be that great. Now they've won 20 of 25.
If I'm the No. 1 Astros, the team I don't want to see in my first series is the Blue Jays.

 

That video gave me some feels but not necessarily the good kind. I'm not sure I've ever had a worse taste in my mouth from a baseball team as I have from the 2021 Tigers. They were in an easy division and supposed to be on the upswing part of the rebuild and they were absolutely totally ass for nearly the entire season. Nobody hit at all for the entire fucking season. They got shut out tonight for I think the 20th time, which I believe is a record for a team in the DH era. Torkelson, who was a No. 1 pick, has completely failed at hitting Major League pitching in his rookie season. Their other No. 1 pick in this rebuild, Casey Mize, got a Tommy John in June, and the pitcher that's better than him, Tarik Skubal, has a fucked up flexor tendon and will probably be out well into next year. Not only were they bad, they appear to have significantly damaged the organization in the long term. Eduardo Rodriguez made like five starts, then peaced out for four months for "family reasons." Austin Meadows managed to get vertigo, COVID, Achilles tendinitis in BOTH legs and apparently needs mental health help. Al Avila got the gate a month ago, but the tone in this fan base is just toxic right now. Chris Ilitch is completely unlikeable and the timeline until the next watchable Tigers team feels like it's backslid from 1-2 years to 3-5.

I railed against the teardown five years ago because EXACTLY this could happen. I don't think they fucked it up as much as it just got fucked up. Some of the regressions and especially the injury pile-up has been a black swan kind of event, but you can't get out of the line and go to the back and expect to be able to catch up to everyone. For every Astros and Cubs, there's a Randy Smith/Justin Thompson/Juan Encarnacion rebuild.

As for the Mariners, I know multiple Mariners fans personally, which is weird considering how far I am from Washington. and I'm happy for them. Even that is a little weird because Rick Rizzs is not Mariners radio guy in Detroit, he's The Guy Bo Thought Could Replace Ernie Harwell. It's kind of like going to Indonesia or something and finding that everyone there loves New Coke.

 

They weren’t all drafted and developed, but all have debuted and only played for the Angels

 

Everybody made fun of the AL Central champion’s win total all season. Cleveland could very well win 94 games.

Asterisk: They got to play the Royals and Tigers.

 

Rizzs is good. Tiger fans would not have accepted anyone immediately after Harwell, especially after how he was dumped by management.

Hitting MLB pitching is tough. Torkelson's college stats were inflated because he played most of his games in Arizona, but I suspect he'll get it at some point.

 

O's were officially eliminated last night but they were essentially put on the ropes by that Labor Day doubleheader sweep vs. Toronto. They were never a real threat after that, lingering 3-5 games behind. One more win gets them to 82, though, which would be massive, guaranteeing a winning season. Lots to like going forward. Now we'll see how they handle a year with legit expectations, because there will be plenty expected of them in 2023.

 

Rizzs wasn’t the villain as much as his partner, Bob Rathbun, an ACC hoops guy who said things like: “It’s a high ground ball to second base.”
When he was dumped by the Tigers he blamed Harwell, whose only crime was he was 1,000 times better than Rathbun

 

Tigers fans forget between 1968 and 1984 there was a rebuild led by Danny Meyer, Leon Roberts and Tom Veryzer
All played a long time in the majors but all were journeymen
None was a building block
More talented players like Jason Thompson and Steve Kemp also were shed before the Tigers became champions again, although Kemp brought the Tigers a key piece in Chet Lemon
Harris seems like he’s going to take more chances than Al Avila did, and that’s a good thing

 

In the same way, the Giants were effectively eliminated in August after a horrific stretch. But after getting swept by the Dodgers two weeks ago, SF has gone 10-1 and staved of mathematical elimination until likely today because while they got hot, the Phills couldn’t muster any offense.

Now a year after winning a franchise best 107, I’m getting excited because finishing with a .500 record is a real possibility.

 

LOL...Wasn't even a break-in of the Huskies game to announce the news.

 

The end result of Veryzer, Whitey Meyer and Leon Roberts in 1974-75 were consecutive drafts that are easily the greatest in team history: Lance Parrish, Jason Thompson, Lou Whitaker, Dave Rozema, Alan Trammell, Dan Petry, Jack Morris (and Ozzie Smith!), followed by Kirk Gibson and Howard Johnson.

And you're absolutely right. Not a single player from the 1975 Tigers was around to pop the champagne in 1984. That could be the same issue for 2022, sadly.