Detroit Tigers Expected to Get to .500 Soon

Tigers Offense Is Starting to Wake Up

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Tigers Expectations

AJ: Now, if I were to ask you, what’s the Detroit Tigers records in the last 17 games, what would you say?

Matt: Let’s see, so they are one of, either 33 and 23 overall. 

AJ: No, you have that backwards there. 23 and 33.

Matt: Yeah. Sorry. My bad. 22 and 33. 

AJ: No, they’re 23 and 33 after the win. They’re 10 games under 500. 

Matt: Right, yeah. So 23 and 33 thank you. The last 17 games. I know they got swept by the Yanks. That was a bit of a longer series than their sweep of Pittsburgh. But I would guess we are not too far under 500 for those 17 games? 

AJ: We’re 10 and 7. 

Matt: 7 and 10? 

AJ: No. 10 and 7. 

Matt: We’re 10 and 7! Oh yeah!

AJ: So that’s the thing, right? When we talk about the Detroit Tigers. Like the offense is putrid, but the offense is also getting a little bit better. On The Corner, we discussed this quite often but I’ve been really tracking how they’re hitting the ball, how hard they’re hitting the ball. 

I want to know, are they actually hitting the ball solid? But when I look at them tracking and hitting the ball hard, there are a lot of outs that are being made with hard-hit baseballs and expected batting averages on balls in play for a ball hit like that.

There are over 4, 6, 800 expected batting averages, they were just an out, right? So eventually those balls are gonna fall. Everything evens out in baseball. And I’m like looking at their game Tuesday night, which took me till midnight because they didn’t start until nine o’clock. But balls in play like Javy Baez, for instance.

Okay. Free swinger. We know this and it’s been the curse and everybody’s down on Javy right now, which is okay. He hasn’t produced. I get it. But he finally saw pitches in an at-bat. He saw six pitches in his first at-bat and roped a double down the left-field line. Hit the ball hard. It was like the hardest ball hit all night at 112 miles per hour off the bat.

That is what the Detroit Tigers need Javy Baez to do, see pitches. Because if you swing, here’s my thing with Javy. If you swing at the first three pitches and you’re swinging at the pitcher’s pitches, you’re not giving him an opportunity to make a mistake, but when you start battling and you start seeing pitches, eventually that pitcher is going to leave one up.

And then you can crush it. And that’s where I think Javy’s spinning his wheels right now is he’s just, first of all, his timing is terrible right now because he’s rolling everything over. He’s pulling everything, but he’s just got to see more pitches in at-bat and wait for those mistakes that he can jump on.

I’m excited about these next 54 games. Because I think that we’re going to see a bit of a turnaround. I wouldn’t be surprised if we’re within two, three games of 500 after the next 54. So by game 108, let’s say that we’re what? 52 and 54. No, that’s bad math. 53 and 56. I would say that’s an improvement. Wouldn’t you? 

Matt: Yeah, that’s a heck of an improvement this year. 

AJ: That means that the Detroit Tigers would be 9 games over 500 in those 54 games. Because we started 12 games under 500 after 54. So I can see I know I’m eternally optimistic about this team. When Miguel Cabrera is the best hitter on your team, and everybody’s eventually going to find their level, right?

Water always finds its level, which is true about baseball. These guys are not going to stay down all season. They’re going to find their level. Miguel is going to continue to do what he’s doing. The offense is going to get better. Daz Cameron. Daz Cameron has, what was the graphic that I saw today?

Please don’t betray me, 5 of his last 8 hits are all extra, base hits and he’s hitting the ball hard. Daz Cameron who some don’t even consider to be a major league hitter. He’s finally getting some run on the field and he’s hitting the ball. Yeah, his average is around 220, but he’s not had the opportunity. So I’m excited to see what happens with them. These next 54 games. 

Matt: I don’t know, we’re still talking about the worst offense in baseball. By a wide margin. 27 fewer runs than the second-worst team, which is the Oakland Athletics. So there’s a reason for hope because it can’t be worse. It’s only got to go up. We’re talking about a defense, as far as runs scored. No, absolutely. And that’s the thing is it’s got to go up. 

You still have a pitching staff that is giving you chances, night in and night out. Literally, there are less than 10 teams in baseball that have had fewer runs scored against them than the Detroit Tigers. So your pitching staff is giving you a chance. If the offense can even get a semblance of getting it together, you’re talking about a 500 basis. 

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