This game was everything. It was a tense, heartbreaking, brilliantly pitched game between two teams that wouldn't break. It's a gift. The Hollywood scriptwriters were putting together a story of their own. You can watch baseball for a long time, but you'd be hard-pressed to find a better winner-take-all game in the 21st century. I just wish it had ended differently.
Detroit's season is over. For the second year in a row, they bow out in game five of the ALDS. Last year, it was Cleveland and Lane Thomas; this year, it was Seattle walking off Detroit in 15 marvelous endings. It feels like forever ago, but Tarik Skubal brought his A+ stuff tonight in Seattle. Against the lineup that has often given him trouble, he was incredible, striking out 13 Seattle Mariners over six innings. The final pitch of the night was 101 mph. You couldn't have asked for anything more from your ace and future two-time young winner. The only downside is whether or not this is the last time we see Tarik Skubal in a Detroit Tiger uniform. Anyone who follows my content knows that I hope to see him back on the roster next year, but if this offense's limp performance has shown us anything, it's that they're not even good enough to win with Tarik Skubal on the mound in big games.
I know that there are questionable AJ Hinch decisions that we can point to in this game. It's fair to say he's probably guilty of a bit of overmanaging in this series. I know I get accused of being an AJ Hinch defender all the time, but I'm sorry, this loss falls squarely on the shoulders of the young core that this organization has marketed to us as the greatest thing since sliced bread. Take your pick, whether it's Riley Greene, Spencer Torkelson, Colt Keith, or Parker Meadows; these are four guys who should be your money guys. I can't be more blunt than this; all of them were awful in this series. And for the most part, they failed to put together good at-bats in the last month of the season. That's why you lost. You cannot claim to be a team that is trying to develop homegrown players when you have homegrown players who are allergic to getting big hits in clutch situations.
I don't wanna hear about the minor leagues right now. I'm sure that Kevin McGonigle and the young core of guys that Scott Harris is developing are going to be wonderful players. But you do not have a Julio Rodriguez or a Cal Raleigh on this team. That would be acceptable, but you chose not to be aggressive and make any moves by the deadline. Seattle went out and added, and while Suarez was quiet in the series, Naylor was a pest in the last two games and was a huge reason why Seattle finds itself in the ALCS for the first time in 24 years. But I'm sure Charlie Morton enjoyed watching from home.
The honeymoon period is over with this organization. Do I think this team fought their ass off to the very last pitch? Absolutely. But you have now put yourselves in the postseason two years in a row. This is no longer a rebuilding team. It's not even a building team. This is a team that should be going for it. I'm not saying you need to go out and throw 400 million at any free agent that walks; I'm saying you need to do everything possible to address your issues. Your core isn't strong enough to win big games. They don't control the strike zone, and they don't come up with clutch hits, so you can either work on fixing that or you can complain when you blow another 15 1/2 game lead next season.
This game was a classic, and it came down to the very end. It's a shame a team had to lose a game like that, but that game shouldn't have happened. Detroit put themselves in this position with how passive they've been in the front office and at the plate over the last several months. Tarik Skubal will get his hardware at the end of the season, and he'll deserve it, but your young core of hitters, which you've raved about for years, is going to have a very long offseason, and they should.