Detroit Tigers Vs Seattle Preview
A.J. Reilly: Let’s go to Seattle, four games and three days a game.
Monday night at nine 40 a game Tuesday. At six 10 and then a nightcap following that. And then the season finale is gonna be Wednesday at four 10. So let’s get into some pitching matchups, and then we will talk also about the Detroit Tigers and how they match up with the Seattle Mariners. Now listen, I know that you know that the Mariners are a very good baseball team.
They have. Secured a playoff spot for the first time in 20 years, 20 plus years on a br walk-off home run hit by Cal Raleigh. And the call that their play-by-play guy made was phenomenal. I saw it on TikTok last night and I was like, Oh my gosh, this is exactly how you’re supposed to call baseball games.
Like it was phenomenal. They are very, very, very good. In fact, they sit 10th in offensive production on fan grass. 22.8% K rate, a 10% walk rate. They got two 70 batting averages on balls and play 106 weighted runs created. They’ve got an offensive war of 30.4. They’re a good team, a good offensive.
Pitching their 16th on fan graphs, pitching their 16th on fan graphs, and they are the Detroit Tigers are going to be in a situation where they can avoid the Mariner’s best two hitters or pitchers, not hitters, pitchers with the wildcard series coming up on Friday, Saturday and Sunday of this. The Tigers are going to avoid Luis Castillo and Robbie Ray.
I’m almost certain of it, even though the season finale has to be determined for the Mariners, neither of those guys are pitching on Wednesday. I can guarantee you that they’re not pitching on Wednesday because if they pitch on Wednesday, they will not be available for the Wild Card series unless they’re pitching on short.
This is possible, but then if you get past the wild card, that messes things up too. So I, you’re not gonna see their best two pitchers. Who the Detroit Tigers are going to see is, is this, you know, the situation when it comes to pitching. In game one Monday night, Brian Garcia. The Detroit Tigers are gonna be pitching against George Kirby.
George Kirby’s eight and four on the season with a 321 era. Strikes out about a batter per inning. He walks only about one batter per nine innings. Has a 327 batting average on balls in play and a 289 fit. So he’s been pitching actually a lot better than even his era would indicate. Now, Brian Garcia is gonna have to limit the walks.
Because if you allow this team to get on base, this team is going to create havoc. This team is also going to hit the ball and hit the ball hard. Just don’t get me started on Eugenio Suarez, who very well could be a Detroit Tiger right now, but he’s not. Eugenio Suarez. We got Julio Rodriguez. All these different guys can just pound the baseball.
So you gotta make sure that you’re pitching well when they put the ball in play, you’re putting, you’re, you’re turning those balls into out. Brian Garcia is gonna get the start. Hopefully, he can make the game competitive to give our offense a chance. The first game of a doubleheader is on Tuesday. Eduardo Rodriguez is gonna make his final start of the season.
He’s five and five with a 4 0 2 era pitch pretty well last, the last outing, and hopefully again can finish the season. On a high note, he’s gonna be facing off against Marco Gonzalez, who’s 10 and 15 with a 414 era. He strikes only about five per nine innings, Walks two and a half per nine innings, and has a five 15 fit.
So definitely an opportunity for the Detroit Tigers to take advantage of game one of the double. In game two of the doubleheader, we do not know who is pitching for the Detroit Tigers. Could be a bullpen day. This would be the spot for Matt Manning, but he obviously is out right now. He that to be determined, is gonna be facing off against Chris Flexen, who’s eight and nine with a 360 4 era, a 6 26 K per nine, 3.37 walks per 9 2 70 batting average on balls in play, and a 4 45 fit, which means he’s been pitching worse.
That is what his era would indicate. That’s gonna be game two. You wanna, you wanna find a way to at least at minimum, split the doubleheader. Game four. Tyler Alexander’s going to be facing to be determined. Now we know Alexander’s been a little bit better Over the last few weeks. He had a rough patch there for a while, but he’s corrected it a little bit, Had a little bit of a rough outing in his last start.
But this is going to be another situation where the Tigers can take advantage and, and maybe end the season with the win because right now it’s to be determined for the Seattle Mariners. , and again, we go back to the reason why it’s to be determined this is most likely a slot for Louise Castillo or Robbie Ray, but it’s not going to be one of those guys.
If they pitch one of those guys in this series, in this series, it, it’s almost gonna be malpractice To a certain extent, these games mean nothing. Nothing for the Seattle Mariners. Because here’s the deal, They’ve locked up a wild car spot. They have a game and a half lead over Tampa Bay right now, which means if everything holds true, they’ll be traveling to Toronto to play The Blue Jays in a three-game series.
If they end up falling to the third wild card spot, they will travel to Cleveland for three-game series. So the question becomes, When you’re facing Cleveland or Toronto, do you wanna be without Luis Castillo or Robbie Ray? No, you don’t. So this will most likely be some kind of spot, start some kind of bullpen game for the Seattle Mariners, and an opportunity for the Tigers to end the season with a win.
You got four games in Seattle. Are they gonna win the series? I don’t know. Most likely not. But even if they split the series, And in their last five series of the season, they don’t have a single series loss. That’s good. Momentum going into 2023. Now, does momentum carry over from one season to the other?
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About The Show:
The Corner with A.J Reilly – The official Detroit Tigers Podcast for DSN! Hosted by AJ Reilly. New episodes are LIVE Monday and Thursday every week at 6 pm.
