My brain feels like it’s overloaded with baseball goodness. Even I, a fan who tends to be as cynical as they come, cannot find anything wrong with what we saw on Opening Day today from the Detroit Tigers. Does this mean that it’s going to be this easy all season? Absolutely not. But could you have written a better script to start the season? I don’t think so.
Very strange things can happen in this game, and you never want to deal in absolutes because when you do, you often end up being proven wrong, but looking back, Detroit scored four runs in the first, ending the game. Tarik Skubal wasn’t going to give up five runs in this game. As frustrated as we were with this ball club down the stretch a year ago, we are quick to forget that in the first half, there were a lot of games like this. This offense put pressure on opposing pitchers, and the major takeaway is that we saw a patient offense today. We saw Riley Greene and Spencer Torkelson drawing back-to-back walks, taking some pitches that they probably would’ve swung at a year ago. Again, the sample size is way too small for me to say whether or not it’s going to become a trend, but when you’re facing off against a picture in Nick Pivetta, who completely shut you down a year ago when he pitched at Comerica Park, it is a sign of some growth.
I feel like I’m burying the lede here. Before this game, all eyes were on Kevin McGonigle, and after this game, all eyes remain on Kevin McGonigle. If Kevin McGonigle ends up having the career that we hope for, then his career highlight package will start with that first at-bat at Petco Park. Something worth pointing out is the fact that two of McGonigle’s hits came after he fell behind 0–2 in the count. I said on the radio today that even when McGonigle has his struggles, he will make contact; that’s what we saw today. He got a little bit lucky with his third hit, which was a 45 mph dribbler off the bat, but you make your own luck in this game sometimes. Good things happen when you put the ball and play.
No off day for the Tigers tomorrow. They’re back to work as the offense faces off against Michael King tomorrow against Farmer Valdez, who makes his Detroit Tigers debut. Expect some nasty pitching. These are two guys who can really spend the ball. Buckle up because we've got 161 more of these things.