Detroit Tigers 2014 Season Thread

[CONN CHRIS]

My prediction is a solid 2nd or 3rd place finish out of the money by a fair margin. I think Scherzer will be a distraction, Martinez, Nathan and Hunter will have injuries of significance and what little bullpen they have will suffer some sort of injury with nothing in the cupboard to back it up.

I think this will be a decidedly down year.


Now, off to root for a ripping season as though I had never said any of that! Here we come Opening Day!

[RandyTiger]

Tigers opening day lineup:

2B Kinsler
RF Hunter
1B Cabrera
DH Martinez
CF Jackson
C Avila
3B Castellanos
SS Gonzalez
LF Davis

SP: Verlander

[Andy]

If you guys don't think that Detroit wins the division then who does? Cleveland or Kansas City?

[RandyTiger]

Originally Posted by Andy

If you guys don't think that Detroit wins the division then who does? Cleveland or Kansas City?

KC has the young guns to do it.

Cleveland looks to be on the decline, judging from their roster, and I think they'll do 3rd. Twins and White Sox will battle it out for last.

The only reason Chris and I feel so pessimistic about Detroit's chances is the bullpen. It's primarily a collection of junk, retreads, and untried guys apart from Nathan.

If Smyly were to be converted back to reliever, I'd feel a lot better about their chances, because he's shown he can do the job. Matter of fact, I wish they would and find a junk 5th starter in his place. Then I'd change my prediction to a 1st place finish and going to the Series.

[oman19]

Originally Posted by RandyTiger

There's been a lot of discussion about where the Tigers will wind up in the standings, both on a national and regional level. So far, I've seen most predict a 1st place finish, but they will either come up short in the ALCS, or lose the World Series. A few have suggested a 3rd place finish due to bullpen issues.

What I'd like every Tiger fan reading this to do is: post your prediction of where they will finish, and if you think they will make the playoffs, their ultimate end. I'll put them up in post #3, and whomever wins gets bragging rights.

I'll lead off.

- Tigers will finish 2nd by a game.
- Reasons: Bullpen blows a game too many, and someone important goes down with a long-term injury - and there's no quality replacements.

Tigers win the AL Central by at least 5 games, pulling away from KC in September.

They meet Boston in the ALCS and win in a 6 or 7 game series.

In the World Series they lose in 6 to Washington with Doug Fister pitching 2 gems against them.

[RandyTiger]

Post #3 updated with Conn_Chris and Oman19's predictions. Thanks, guys.

[cephasjames]

Tigers finish in 1st place, barely, maybe 1-2 games up. At the trade deadline they pick up a high quality reliever for Andy Dirks, thedonkelly and two high-end prospects to give them the relief help they need. They'll win the WS against the Nats in 6 at the CoPa.

[RandyTiger]

Post #3 updated with CJ's prediction. Thanks, man.

[CONN CHRIS]

Victor gets us started off in the right direction!

[patrick_richards1]

going and seeing my hometown Whitecaps on my birthday the 27th, much excited....

as for the tigs, we will win the central by 3, get to the league series and lose in 6.
i predict some sort of injury to one of our stars.

[CONN CHRIS]

A trip from Jones in the fourth is not good.

[DamPenguin]

Prediction for this year:

Tigers finish second in division due to weak bullpen and overall lack of depth. No playoffs this year. But hopefully we can trade Scherzer to a contender for some good prospects and a bright future.

[David Watts]

I think they finish 3rd behind the Indians and Royals. I also think the White Sox will bounce back this year and finish just a game or 2 behind the Tigers. Injuries will be the downfall of this team.

[RchW]

Originally Posted by RandyTiger

There's been a lot of discussion about where the Tigers will wind up in the standings, both on a national and regional level. So far, I've seen most predict a 1st place finish, but they will either come up short in the ALCS, or lose the World Series. A few have suggested a 3rd place finish due to bullpen issues.

What I'd like every Tiger fan reading this to do is: post your prediction of where they will finish, and if you think they will make the playoffs, their ultimate end. I'll put them up in post #3, and whomever wins gets bragging rights.

I'll lead off.

- Tigers will finish 2nd by a game.
- Reasons: Bullpen blows a game too many, and someone important goes down with a long-term injury - and there's no quality replacements.

I think they will win the division. KC does not have the rotation to do it. I don't see them winning the Division series. A significant mid-late season trade may change everything.

[RandyTiger]

Predictions by Patrick_Richards1, Dam_Penguin, David Watts, and RchW have been added to post #3. Thank you, gentlemen.

[RandyTiger]

Tigers win on a walk-off single by Gonzalez. Game Summary to follow in a bit.

[cephasjames]

What a great way for Gonzalez to make up for the error!

[RandyTiger]

Detroit 4, Royals 3. [Boxscore]

Summary: Tigers edge Royals with 9th inning heroics.

Pitching: It was an up-and-down game, but when it counted, the pitching corps got the job done. Here's how they fared:

(Season lines will appear once a pitcher has made 2 appearances.)

Verlander, starting his 7th consecutive Opening Day, struggled a bit against the pesky Royals, managing to keep them under control until the 4th inning.

At that point, the visitors scored two runs on a walk, RBI double, ground-out, RBI single, and another walk, in that order. It should have ended there, but a critical 2-out error by Gonzalez extended the inning and loaded the bases.

Fortunately, JV limited the damage to just one more run, this one from another walk, before getting out of the jam with a pop-up to Gonzalez.

He threw 105 pitches (64 strikes) over 6 innings, with a final line of 3 runs (2 earned) yielded on 6 hits (3 doubles) and 3 walks. He notched 2 strikeouts.

Reed followed in the 7th, tossing 10 pitches (7 strikes) in a perfect inning.

Alburquerque took the hill for the 8th, and gave up a single in a 13 pitch, 10 strike inning.

Nathan made his first appearance as a Tiger, throwing a flawless 9th inning (13 pitches, 9 strikes) - and garnered the win as well. Terrific start for him.

Offense: KC starter James Shields spun some really nice magic, keeping the Cats in check until the 7th inning. Altogether, the Boys had 8 hits and 3 walks, stranding 6 on 2-7 hitting with RISP. Here's the run-down of the successes they had:

Miggy: 1-3 (.333), Double (1), 1 BB (1).
- Double in the 4th; Walk in the 8th.

Martinez: 1-4 (.250), HR (1), RS (1), RBI (1).
- Solo HR to RF in the 2nd. [Video of HR]

Jackson: 1-4 (.250), Triple (1), RS (1).
- Triple and RS in the 7th (run scored on a K/WP to Castellanos). [Video of triple]

Avila: 1-2 (.500), 2 BB (2), RS (1).
- Single in the 2nd; Walk and RS in the 7th; Walk in the 9th.

Collins: RS (1).
- (Pinch-run for Avila in the 9th), RS.

Castellanos: 2-4 (.500).
- Single in the 5th, thrown out at 2B; Single in the 9th.

Gonzalez: 2-4 (.500), Triple (1), 2 RBI (2).
- RBI Triple in the 7th; RBI single in the 9th to win the game. [Video of triple] [Video of walk-off single]

Fielding: Errors, 2: Hunter 1 (1), fly-ball in the 2nd; Gonzalez, 1 (1), ground-ball, 4th inning.

Double plays: 1, 1-6-3 (Verlander-Gonzalez-Cabrera), 5th inning.

Next game: Wednesday, April 2nd, Kansas City (0-1, 0-1 Away) @ Detroit (1-0, 1-0 Home), 1:08 Eastern.

Starting Pitchers: Jason Vargas vs. Max Scherzer.

- KC TV: FSKC. Radio: KCSP 610, Royals Radio Network
- Detroit TV: FS-D. Radio: 97.1 The Ticket.
- Subscription TV: MLBN.

Note: Attendance was 45,068 - 109.2% of capacity, the largest in Comerica Park's 15-year history. Hey, what did you expect? It's Opening Day!

[Tram2Whitaker]

Got to see the Tigers in person today. Was not impressed with the bats; it seemed like everyone was waiting on Cabrera and Martinez to get it done (certainly would have been the highlight of the afternoon if it didn't take so long to get in the park) Verlander went into a lot of deep counts for my taste, but got it done nonetheless. Rajai Davis gave me a headache: not only did he turn a routine play into a triple, he swung right through a pitch that almost hit him.

As for season predictions: The Twins and Sox are out. KC has no hitting, and Cleveland no pitching. The Tigers are a little thin at the bottom. The bullpen should actually be better than last year, even though they kept Coke. Depth definitely is a concern. 1st *if they can stay healthy, 4th if not.

[RandyTiger]

Thanks for the prediction, Tram. I've added it to post #3.