Suppose you’re reading this right now, and you’re somebody who wasn’t able to watch tonight‘s game, and you’re just looking at the score and assuming that Detroit was somewhat competitive. In that case, I’m going to carefully explain how wrong you are for having that belief. This was one of the more pathetic showings by a playoff team that you’re going to see. Just because Detroit got a little rally going against Seattle’s weakest reliever when the game was already out of reach doesn’t mean that I’m going into tomorrow’s game feeling perfect.
The performance tonight mirrored what the weather was like in downtown Detroit. It was dreary, lifeless, and pathetic. There’s really no other way to put it. This looked like a group for a heavy majority of the game that wasn’t sure if they wanted to be there. I know that I’m being harsh, but you would expect a team that hasn’t played a home game in weeks to come back home for the postseason and look a little bit more inspired. To me, they look like a team that’s about ready to spend the next several months playing golf. I hope that I’m wrong.
Pretty much everything we’ve seen from this ball club that led to their collapse in September was on full display tonight. Their starting pitcher didn’t have it, and their offense got completely shut down. They made consistent fundamental mistakes that allowed the other team to score runs. It would be something that I would have a hard time forgiving if I were watching a spring training game, let alone a postseason performance.
I’m not entirely sure where to take this team right now. I don’t think there’s any inspirational movie speech that I can give that’s going to shake these players out of apathy. I’ve been saying that they need to get it fixed since July. They haven’t fixed it. And now we’re just minutes from the doomsday clock hitting midnight, and given the fact that the team just put together one of their worst performances of the year, it’s hard for me to believe that anything is going to change.
This is a game of sample sizes, and there’s a large sample size right now that suggests this Detroit team simply doesn’t have it. I’m not saying they’re a bad team, but watching tonight, I felt like I was watching a diet version of what the Mariners have. They have Cal Raleigh, we have Riley Greene. They have Julio Rodriguez; this team has Parker Meadows. There’s some undeniable good here, but a game like tonight showed that that good is clearly not good enough.
You are now one loss away from an offseason that will include discussions about whether or not you trade Tarik Skubal. The team we’ve seen over the last month or so doesn’t look like one that can win a World Series or make a deeper run with him on the roster. I hate to be all doom and gloom, but tonight‘s loss felt like step one of an inevitable death that’s going to come tomorrow. I truly hope that I’m wrong. Maybe Casey Mize has a moment in them.