The Detroit Tigers and the Long, Long Season
The Detroit Tigers had a bad day yesterday.
The starting pitching was bad. The defense had some issues. The relief pitching wasn’t relieving at all. In short, the Tiger never looked ready to play.
I was ready to be bothered by it (I actually had the TV to myself last night and I had to watch that dud) but then I remembered that this happens in pro sports – especially in baseball. 162 games is a LOT of games. Think about your typical work week – are you 100% ready to go every day?
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Ever take an extra long coffee break or wander the halls to talk to your favorite coworkers? Everyone does (except for me, who is a highly dedicated, extremely conscientious employee. Don’t fire me please!) People might get tired of the occasional clunker, but it happens –heck, the Detroit Lions took the entire 2008 season off, so what is a few games out of 162 for the Tigers?
So I chilled out, flipped over to Real Housewives…I mean, flipped over to Deadliest Catch… and moved on with my life.
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But then I read something this morning which did bother me a little. And it has bothered me in the past. It was the comment “this is a winning ball club.” Or the similar comment “we know we have a good team here.” And I wonder what they base that on? The Tigers are almost at the halfway point of the season and are only one game over .500 (39-38).
By definition that is a winning ball club, but I don’t think that you can assume that you “have a good team” based on that record. You have some great names in the lineup, but you also have some issues. Although they lead the league in batting average, they have a run differential of -10.
Justin Verlander is back, but it remains to be seen how effective he is actually going to be. Alex Avila should be back soon, but I don’t think people remember what he was like when he was actually healthy.
The team ERA is .409, which is in the bottom 10 of all of MLB. And the home runs. Oh gawd the home runs. I can still see them. Joba’s from last night. Shane Greene, who is probably still in therapy after his outing vs. the Angels in May. And Anibal Sanchez, who has given up an amazing 18 home runs this year.
For reference, that is already more this year than he had in the entire 2013 and 2014 season combined! Having great defense doesn’t help when they are hitting it out of the yard.
So are they a good team? Who knows? They are a maddening team for sure. You would think the defense and offense would lead to better results, but 80 games in, it still hasn’t happened. Which is why, every once in a while when the wife is out and your kid is playing Pokémon and you actually get TV time, you might see a bad loss. The record shows they are a .500 team, and they play like it.
So don’t get bothered by a single game. Turn on the TV, and know that about half the time you might not be happy with the outcome. Enjoy the wins…but don’t stress out over the losses. If the first 80 games is any indication, there will be a few more.
And know that reality TV will always be there for you if needed.