The Tigers have one more chance to extend one of the wildest seasons in team history.
Cleveland beat Detroit 5-4 in Game 4 of the American League Division Series Thursday night at Comerica Park. The series is tied at 2-2 and shifts to Cleveland for Game 5 on Saturday. The winner will advance to the American League Championship Series.
Bobby Scales is a Detroit Tigers Radio Network analyst and former major leaguer. He joined Michigan Public Morning Edition host Doug Tribou to talk about the Tigers' chances and how the team turned things around this season.
American League Division Series - Game 5
Detroit Tigers at Cleveland Guardians - Saturday, 1:08pm
Doug Tribou: This was a back-and-forth game with multiple lead changes. What went wrong for the Tigers?
Bobby Scales: Oh, going wrong? Well, you got to give Cleveland a little bit of credit, too. I think that those guys, they didn't quit fighting. It's one of those series where you look across to the other dugout and you're looking at your brother.
You know, it's a team that's built on pitching. They've got a great bullpen. Their offense isn't the most prolific offense, but they get big hits when they need to. They're fundamentally sound. And so I say all that to say, I don't know that it's more or less what the Tigers did wrong. I think it's more Cleveland made some really big swings and made a great bunt late in the game, too.
One thing in particular I think that you can point to is: a lot of times we always look at the end of the game. I think you have to look at the beginning. [Guardians pitcher] Tanner Bibee was on the ropes in both the first and second inning and the Tigers weren't able to get a knockout punch. Again, that's why you play. It's playoff baseball. That's what it looks like. It's going to be nip and tuck for the most part.
DT: Game 5 is winner-take-all. The Tigers’ starting pitcher will be their ace Tarik Skubal. He has had a breakout year. What have his consistency and dominance done for this team?
BS: He's the rock that most of this team is built upon. If you take each performance, one by one, most of them have been dominant. And then if you zoom back out and look at the aggregate 192 innings, you know, it used to be once upon a time, an ace, a number one guy threw 200 innings for you. That's not the case anymore. But for Skubal to get 192 innings, 228 strikeouts in the regular season, led the American League in wins, led the American League in strikeouts, ERA [earned run average] — when you hand him the ball on a given day, you feel really, really good about your odds of winning.
So he has been an absolute rock for this team. He's been a rock for this pitching staff. He's a great dude. He's approachable. Even on start days. Now, most people don't approach a pitcher on his start day, but you can talk with him. He's not the guy that's locked in silence from the time he gets on the bus to go to the stadium. He's not that guy.
But it's meant everything. I can tell you from a position player standpoint that when you know you got your big dog out there, you're locked in a little bit more, saying, "Hey, listen, if we get one or two [runs], we catch the ball, we're going to have a good chance of winning this game." And that's what he does. That's the overall effect he has on this club.
"He's rock that most of this team is built upon."Tigers radio analyst Bobby Scales on Detroit pitcher Tarik Skubal
DT: Skubal has gotten a lot of headlines as one of — if not the — best pitcher in the American League. But lots of players have contributed. Tell us about one or two other players who have stood out.
BS: You're looking at the Riley Greenes of the world, who made his first All-Star game — likely first of many for him. Such a solid player. It was important for him to take a big leap forward. He did that. Colt Keith. We know he got the big contract — the early extension before he played a day in the big leagues. He was the Opening Day second baseman. There were some struggles. There was a lot of struggles in certain points of the season. But what he didn't do was he didn't waver in his belief in himself. And [Tigers manager] A.J. [Hinch] and the rest of that coaching staff and front office, they had a very steady hand with him and they didn't waver. And as a result, he was able to have steadied the ship and then end up having a very good, very productive second half of the year.
I point to Jake Rogers, too. Jake always catches Tarik Skubal, but what he has meant to this team, especially in the second half after the Tigers traded Carson Kelly. Carson Kelly was kind of that veteran leader presence behind the plate. When they traded Carson Kelly and brought up Dillon Dingler from triple-A, it was it was incumbent upon Jake Rogers to assume the Carson Kelly role, if you will, as leader, both in the clubhouse and obviously, the guy who's helping all the pitchers through the games. He did that. Parker Meadow's resurgence. I mean, I can go on and on. I know we don't have time for that. But I really could.
I don't want to say the whole is greater than the sum of the parts because the sum of the parts are good. But when you put these guys together, they fit together very nicely and they've been tremendous.
DT: You’ve been covering the team all season. And it looked like another year where the Tigers play some competitive baseball, but end up with a losing record. Then — bam — they find some baseball magic. They were well below .500 on August 10, then went 31-13 to finish the season and make the playoffs for the first time in a decade. The story’s not over, but what will you remember about their turnaround?
BS: For me, one of the biggest points was Williamsport [home of the Little League World Series]. You go to the Williamsport game, it's a great setting. You go over to the Little League facility, which is kind of across town there in Williamsport, Pa.
I had never been there. I don't know that anybody on the team had ever been there. You see how cool that was. And then they go over and you end up walking the Yankees off. Jace Jung got a big hit that night. Parker Meadows got a big hit that night. Colt Keith got a big knock that night as well. That was a big deal to beat the Yankees and to win that series. That was a series that started in Detroit and ended at Williamsport and the Game 3 was a rubber match of that series in Williamsport. They win that series. So you walk them off in dramatic fashion.
You just saw things like that happen over and over. Parker Meadows going opposite-field home run off Robert Suarez, one of the best closers in the game, with two out and two strikes, a grand slam homer in San Diego to a part of the ballpark where the ball doesn't fly, especially for lefthanded hitters. I mean, there was just crazy stuff happening all the way down the stretch.
You're like, "Wait a minute. Okay, this is getting interesting. This thing is going to happen. We're going to do this." And that's kind of the sentiment and the feeling you got as that run started to build.
Editor's note: Quotes in this article have been edited for length and clarity. You can listen to the full interview near the top of this page.
