Wings, Red

After a red hot 8-3 start to the season, the wings are going through a bit of a rough patch in their schedule currently. Losing four of the last five, the offense has looked stagnant. The defense, and particularly goaltending, hasn’t looked much better. 

There’s no reason to panic at all, the Yzerplan still looks to be a growing success with the recent explosiveness of one Emmitt Finnie. While Finnie (and the entire offense) has been on a bit of a cold streak, his eight points in 12 games still made him a standout role player on the offensive side of the puck. Meanwhile another rookie, Axel Sandin-Pelliikka, is averaging the 7th most time on ice on the team. And with the dynamic goalie duo of Sebastian Cossa and Trey Augustine looking like the future face of the franchise, combined with the development of Kasper and Danielson, the future still looks bright for the wings.

As for playoff ambitions, I think I need to see a bit more of the squad to make a judgement on that. It’s going to get in the same category as last year: do you trust the offense? I, personally, did not. But based on our moves at the deadline, Yzerman did. I would love to make the playoffs this year, but if trading for an experienced vet that will help us do so costs us one of our big prospects, I would rather miss the playoffs. But I think that this team is absolutely talented enough to do that on its own. I think.

Motor City Kitties

Two major standouts this week in terms of Tigers news, one being Kevin ‘Professor’ McGonigle (I’m trying to get the nickname going) absolutely raking in the Arizona Fall League, and the qualifying offer made to one Torres, Gleyber. 

Gleyber was nothing short of our best hitter in the first half of the year, batting .281 before the all-star break, but digressed later in the year, finishing off with a .254 batting average partly due to injury. For the time he was on the Tigers however, he did notch his third all star appearance and drew 85 walks, which was a career high. That, in turn, led to another career high in on-base percentage at .358.

Torres brought a veteran presence to a relatively young team, and while the end of the year was rough, a full offseason of rest and training could see the Venezuelan back to his normal self. The Tigers made a qualifying offer, something they have not done in 11 years, for a 1-year contract for 22.025 million. Just the fact that they made him a qualifying offer shows that they want him back. But Torres will likely pursue a multiple year contract, so the chances of him signing before November 18th look slim. The Tigers are still able to sign Torres if he opts to not take the offer, but will be in competition with the rest of the league. 

Now onto Professor McGonigle. The star of the Scottsdale Scorpions is looking a little Polanco-esque in his first month in the fall league. McGonigle is currently batting .362 with 5 homers and 19 RBIs in less than 20 games. He’s played both 3rd base and shortstop, but I’d like to see him move over to second base with Torres’ departure looming in the background.

McGonigle should be brought up at least some time in the early stages of the year. Hinch is known to be a little stubborn when it comes to the lineup especially in October, (cough, cough, Parker Meadows leading off) which might help explain why he wasn’t brought up for the playoff roster.

Los Lions

MAN did that win feel good. The Lions of Detroit came off of nothing short of a dominant win against the Commanders of Washington this past Sunday. I think the most overlooked detail was how good the offense performed outdoors. There is a media narrative that Goff struggles in away stadiums, especially ones that are outdoors, but he laid those rumors to rest, throwing for 320 yards and three touchdowns on 75% completion. Sonic and Knuckles looked back in form, rushing for a combined 213 yards with two touchdowns.

There were two rather large elephants in the room for this game. One being the revenge against Dan Quinn for the loss in the NFC Divisional last year, and the other being the questionable playcalling from John Morton in last week’s game. Safe to say that we got the revenge part out of the way, with the Commanders moving to a pretty brutal 3-7 record. But the playcalling was a different story. Myself and others were not pleased with the robotic run up the middle on 1st, incomplete pass on 2nd, screen pass on 3rd, punt on 4th that was the John Morton experience against the Vikings of Minnesota. Dan Campbell appeared to be frustrated as well, not commenting on it in the postgame interview, and taking over playcalling duties in this week’s game. It’s been awhile since Campbell was calling plays, and it certainly helped that the Commander’s defence is near the bottom of the league, but I was overall very impressed with his abilities. We have so much talent on that side of the ball that it’s frankly embarrassing to be going 3 and out so many times. But Dan put on his reading glasses, and got the job done. I was particularly impressed with the unlocking of Jameson Williams, whom John Morton had seemed to forget was the fastest person on our team. Waymo had 119 yards and a touchdown, his best statline of the year. Campbell has a better sense of how the offense ticks, and it showed on Sunday.

Now we have this week’s matchup. The Eagles of Philadelphia. The reigning super bowl champs. In Philly. On primetime. On paper, Philly is the best team in the league. On paper. The recent performances and locker room drama has made them somewhat less intimidating, but still a damn good team to go up against. My worry is that the offense will underperform against the commanding Philly defense, which boasts the 10th best points allowed in the league. It’s also at night, in the most intimidating atmosphere in all of sports. But let’s talk about the positives. 

We’re healing up on the O-line and defense, and we should have a lot of key players back for the Philly game. It’s unsure whether or not Kerby Joseph will play, but Arnold and Branch should be at full strength, and there’s a chance Malcolm Rodriguez might return. Meanwhile, in Philly, the vibes are low. They put up a meager 10 points against the Packers of Green Bay, where Jalen Hurts looked pretty terrible. There was a noticeable lack of effort from A.J Brown, whose locker room drama has been a constant nag to Siranni, who’s not in the clear either. Sirianni went for it on 4th and 8 last week, a decision that was polarizing to the analytics and almost cost them the game. If Philly keeps staggering, we should have a pretty good chance of beating them.

It’s gonna be a dogfight, but I’m still taking my Lions by a score.

The ‘Stons

Cade’s triple double against the Wizards of Washington combined with the heroics of Daniss Jenkins led the Pistons to their 7th straight win as they cruised to 9-2 and first place in the eastern conference. Man. This team looks good. Cade dropped 46 points (he shot 14/45 but that’s besides the point), 12 rebounds, and 11 assists, proving that he is still all-star worthy this year. The surprise of the game was Daniss Jenkins, who scored 24 points off the bench against the Wizards. The main takeaway from this is that because Cade is such a good playmaker, anyone can shine at any point. His ability to score and dish out the rock, combined with his 6 ‘6 frame as a point guard, makes him such a lethal presence on the court. A lot of Malik Beasley’s three pointers from last year came from Cade driving in the paint and then passing it out to the corner. Cade is best when he’s a playmaker, and HE’S ONLY 24!! With so much room to excel, I’d be surprised if he isn’t an MVP candidate in the next couple of years.

But the real sensation this season so far has been the emergence of Jalen Duren. JD is averaging 19.4 points and 12 rebounds over the course of 11 games. He’s also been insanely efficient from the field, shooting 64.7%. For reference, LeBron James’ career field goal percentage is 50.6%. Granted, LeBron has played much more basketball than JD, but the point still stands. The guy is freakishly good, and HE’S ONLY 22!! This roster, overall, has so much room to grow. The Pistons are looking better and better each day, and I can smell a playoff win around the corner.

With the Pistons having a relatively easy few weeks ahead of them, and Ivey’s return imminent, they should acquire a pretty good lead in the east.