Detroit Tigers

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Why aren’t the Detroit Tigers better than they are?

June 13, 2013
A lot of Detroit Tigers fans keep scratching their heads wondering how...
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6/4/2013 Ned Garver interview (Passed Ball Show)

June 7, 2013
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Baseball Power Report: Month 2 (Week 9)

June 3, 2013
A third of the way through the season, it’s time for the early June ...
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5/30/2013 Matt Walbeck interview (Passed Ball Show)

May 31, 2013
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filling out my first All-Star ballot

May 29, 2013
All-Star voting is underway and fifty games into the season is a good ...
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Why aren’t the Detroit Tigers better than they are?

Posted on by in Detroit Tigers, Local, Michigan, MLB, Sports  |  No comments
detroit-tigers-logo
A lot of Detroit Tigers fans keep scratching their heads wondering how this team can be dominating in so many statistical categories yet not thoroughly crushing the competition as a whole. It’s a fair point. The Tigers are 36-27, which is good enough to place them 5.5 games atop the spotty AL Central. 36-27 isn’t exactly a record that makes you want to hide your eyes. After all, if the Tigers continue to win 57% of their games they’ll finish the season at 92-70, which will be more than enough to send them to their 3rd straight playoff appearance.

Whatcha got Miguel?

However, drop the Tigers as they sit today in the AL East and they’re a 4th place team. The same applies in an NL Central comparison. They’d be 3rd in the AL West. In fact, the only other division they’d be leading besides their own is the NL West as they have the...
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Baseball Power Report: Month 2 (Week 9)

Posted on by in Anaheim Angels, Arizona Diamondbacks, Atlanta Braves, Baltimore Orioles, Boston Red Sox, Chicago Cubs, Chicago White Sox, Cincinnati Reds, Cleveland Indians, Colorado Rockies, Detroit Tigers, Featured, Houston Astros, Kansas City Royals, LA Angels, LA Dodgers, Making Sense of Sports, Miami Marlins, Milwaukee Brewers, Minnesota Twins, MLB, New York Mets, New York Yankees, Oakland Athletics, Philadelphia Phillies, Pittsburgh Pirates, San Diego Padres, San Francisco Giants, Seattle Mariners, Sports, St Louis Cardinals, Tampa Bay Rays, Texas Rangers, Toronto Blue Jays, Washington Nationals  |  No comments
adam wainwright
A third of the way through the season, it’s time for the early June Power Report. For each team I have a ranking and a few interesting stats/observations for not just last week, but also the last month and the season to date. I tried to keep everything consistent, but some stats are based on Saturday, some on Sunday. Enjoy!

30. Marlins. If April wasn’t bad enough, the Marlins scored just 79 runs in 28 games in the month of May, running their season total to 152 runs in 55 games. They rank last in runs, doubles, homers, average, on-base percentage, slugging, and hit into the third most double plays. When your team leader in batting average is at .228, that explains a lot. Their pitching yields the highest opponents’ on-base percentage in the NL. Miami is actually 6-3 against the Mets, but 10-39 versus everyone else. On the bright side, slugger Giancarlo Stanton...

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filling out my first All-Star ballot

Posted on by in Arizona Diamondbacks, Atlanta Braves, Baltimore Orioles, Chicago White Sox, Cincinnati Reds, Colorado Rockies, Detroit Tigers, Featured, LA Angels, LA Dodgers, Making Sense of Sports, Milwaukee Brewers, Minnesota Twins, MLB, New York Mets, New York Yankees, San Francisco Giants, Sports, Toronto Blue Jays  |  No comments
manny machado
All-Star voting is underway and fifty games into the season is a good enough sample size to identify some selections. These will likely change a little before July 16, so don't kill me for omitting the first place Red Sox, Rangers and Cardinals. Along with your traditional home runs and batting average, my favorite baseball statistics are:
  • On-base percentage (hits plus walks plus hit-by-pitches)
  • Extra-bases (homers, doubles, triples, stolen bases)
  • Runs produced (runs scored plus runs batted in minus home runs)
After all, getting on base, moving around the diamond and producing runs are like the hokey-pokey: that’s what it’s all about. Those aren't the only stats I'm judging on, and defense is also considered. American League chris davisFirst base: Chris Davis, Orioles. 17 home runs, 18 doubles, .344 batting average and 29 walks. He also plays solid defensively at first. Davis has become one of my favorite sluggers. Second base: Read more

stats and facts Week 8

Posted on by in Arizona Diamondbacks, Baltimore Orioles, Cincinnati Reds, Colorado Rockies, Detroit Tigers, Featured, LA Angels, Making Sense of Sports, Minnesota Twins, MLB, New York Mets, New York Yankees, Philadelphia Phillies, San Francisco Giants, Seattle Mariners, Sports, Tampa Bay Rays, Texas Rangers, Toronto Blue Jays  |  No comments
mike trout
Happy Memorial Day. It was too good of a day to sit at the computer and type so your weekly report for May 20-26 comes out on Tuesday instead of Monday, but there is still a lot of good stuff to read about. ** Last Monday, the Mariners homered in the 8th, 9th, and 10th innings and still lost the game. ** For the third time in his career, Joe Mauer broke up a no-hitter with one out in the ninth inning. ** In his last seven games, Mets Dillon Gee has given up two home runs to opposing pitchers and two home runs to all the positions players he has faced (courtesy of ESPN's Jayson Stark). ** In 2012, Jim Johnson and Fernando Rodney converted 99 save opportunities, blowing just five chances. In 2013 they have already blown 9 saves. ** As the Yankees ace, CC Sabathia is expected to beat the Yankees biggest rivals, the Red Sox and Rays. It hasn't...
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baseball Week 7: a whole lot of Crazy

Posted on by in Arizona Diamondbacks, Boston Red Sox, Chicago Cubs, Cincinnati Reds, Cleveland Indians, Detroit Tigers, Featured, LA Dodgers, Making Sense of Sports, Milwaukee Brewers, MLB, New York Mets, Philadelphia Phillies, Sports  |  No comments
paul goldschmidt
** Living in the Northeast and primarily following the AL, I know all about the Yankees’ improbable season. But what if I told you that there was a team that…
  • entire starting outfield has been on the DL
  • All-Star/Silver Slugger second baseman played just ten games
  • All-Star catcher is hitting .180 (while playing more than all but one other MLB backstop)
  • Closer pitched poorly then went on the DL
  • Bullpen has most blown saves in MLB
  • Ace went seven starts between earning wins
  • Number two pitcher earned just one win in a stretch of seven starts
  • Number three pitcher has sub-.500 record
  • Number four pitcher recently earned his first win (ninth start of the season)
  • In the offseason they traded away the player that now leads the majors in home runs
And what if I told you that this team (Arizona Diamondbacks) is in first place, in a division that includes the reigning World Series champs and another team with a $217M payroll? Paul Goldschmidt (.333, 12 HR, 35 RBI,...
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Baseball Power Report: Week 5

Posted on by in Anaheim Angels, Arizona Diamondbacks, Atlanta Braves, Baltimore Orioles, Boston Red Sox, Chicago Cubs, Chicago White Sox, Cincinnati Reds, Cleveland Indians, Colorado Rockies, Detroit Tigers, Featured, Houston Astros, Kansas City Royals, LA Angels, LA Dodgers, Making Sense of Sports, Miami Marlins, Milwaukee Brewers, Minnesota Twins, MLB, New York Mets, New York Yankees, Oakland Athletics, Philadelphia Phillies, Pittsburgh Pirates, San Diego Padres, San Francisco Giants, Seattle Mariners, Sports, St Louis Cardinals, Tampa Bay Rays, Texas Rangers, Toronto Blue Jays, Washington Nationals  |  No comments
miguel cabrera
A month is in the books so here is my early May Power Report. For each team I have a ranking and a few interesting stats/observations. Enjoy it, because it took a lot of work! (I do these once a month and prefer little movement. When some "expert" moves a team up 6 spots and then down 5 spots a week later, that says more about the "expert" than the team. That's why some teams with worse records have better rank than "surprise" teams I expect to dip soon.) 30. Astros. Lost 10 out of 11 and outscored by 24 runs the last two. The 198 runs they’ve allowed is 34 more than the next team. On pace for 41-121 record. They’ve also racked up an impressive 323 strikeouts, which will shatter the all time record. Philip Humber not only has the highest ERA but also the lowest run support; that’s how you go 0-7. There’s no question...
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Previewing baseball’s postseason if the season ended yesterday

Posted on by in Bases Empty Blog, Boston Red Sox, Cincinnati Reds, Colorado Rockies, Detroit Tigers, Kansas City Royals, LA Angels, LA Dodgers, MLB, New York Yankees, Pttsburgh Pirates, San Francisco Giants, Sports, St Louis Cardinals, Texas Rangers, Toronto Blue Jays, Washington Nationals  |  26 comments
One of the things baseball fans are great at is overanalyzing the start of a given season. "Power rankings" are used within the first couple weeks of the year and teams that were given no chance are looked at as sudden postseason contenders. Which is absolutely hypocritical as these are the same people who refused to go against the grain of baseball prospectus and MLB.com after they released the projected 2013 finishes. However, one of the things that separate baseball from any other sport is the fact that even the worst teams can have great days, stretches and sometimes weeks and months. The best teams will go into slumps, simply because of the length of the season. Rather than rank the best to the worst teams right now strictly based on record, I will preview a ficticious postseason that would exist if the season ended last night, May 3rd. In...
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baseball Stats n’ Facts: Week 4

Posted on by in Anaheim Angels, Arizona Diamondbacks, Atlanta Braves, Baltimore Orioles, Boston Red Sox, Chicago Cubs, Cincinnati Reds, Cleveland Indians, Colorado Rockies, Detroit Tigers, Houston Astros, Kansas City Royals, LA Angels, LA Dodgers, Making Sense of Sports, Miami Marlins, MLB, New York Yankees, Oakland Athletics, Pittsburgh Pirates, Sports, St Louis Cardinals, Tampa Bay Rays, Texas Rangers, Toronto Blue Jays  |  No comments
russell martin
If you saw my previous article written earlier today, you know that the Red Sox have the best record in baseball. After one month, the Red Sox, Royals and Pirates are all alone in first place, and after Colorado lost two to Arizona this weekend, the Rockies and Diamondbacks are now tied for the division lead. Take that for what it's worth, we've seen it before. With that in mind, here are some notes from the last week of this great baseball season. - As mentioned in my Red Sox article, Boston is 14-0 in games that Jon Lester, Clay Buchholz, and Felix Doubront pitch. - Boston's schedule through May 30 includes 27 games against the Twins, Blue Jays, White Sox, Indians, Rays and Phillies. - Red Sox hit 29 doubles in seven games last week (ten more than anyone else). - After a slow start, the Pittsburgh Pirates are 11-4 against the Cardinals, Reds, Braves and D-Backs. - The Pirates' pitching staff, statistically...
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