Wings, Red

Guys, it might be over for the Wings. 

I can’t emphasize just how much of a must-win Tuesday night was for us. We got Larkin back, we’re going up against another borderline playoff team, and Ottawa was super beat up. We needed to capitalize on this. And we didn’t.

We had so many posts in that game that it was painful to watch at some points. We even had what would have been a crucial goal if we weren’t offside. These are the things that you notice in a game, and walk away and say “well if a few shots went our way, we might have won.” But they didn’t go our way, and we lost.

We were nervous out there, and I think that’s fairly obvious. It was a game full of stupid mistakes, and hats off to the Senators, they took advantage of those really well. But it’s not the games against Tampa or the Wild that worry me down the stretch. It’s games like these, against teams that we can absolutely beat, but just can’t. 

Look, we still have 11 games left. It’s not over over, but I think it’s about 50/50 at this point. This is all I’m gonna say to give a glimmer of hope.

We play 4 playoff teams in those 11 games. We can still absolutely do this. Don’t worry about what Boston’s record is, or the Islanders, just focus on one game at a time. Nobody wants this more than these players. They know what’s at stake, and as we’ve seen before in the year, we can contend with the best in the league on any given night.

Emotional 180 rotation. We’re so back. Don’t let the losses bring you down. We’re going to make the playoffs. 

LGRW.

Motor City Kitties

Here’s how this is going to go. I wrote down a lot of thoughts about the Tigers’ opening debut against the Padres of San Diego, a rematch of the famous 1984 World Series. These are meant to be overreactions, as I’m pretty delusional but optimistic about this year. I’m going to give an in-depth explanation on each one, and convince you why we’re going to be at the top of the MLB this year.

Kevin McGonigle is Winning Rookie of the Year, Maybe AL MVP.

Big few days for the name McGonigle in general. New Harry Potter trailer, new frontrunner for AL rookie of the year. 4-5 at the plate. .800 batting average. Not to mention the two RBI’s he collected. Tell me that’s not a wizard at Hogwarts right there. 

I know we all expected big things from The Professor, but this is crazy. I think this goes up there with some of the best rookie debuts of all time. I mean how many times can an MLB player say they’re batting .1000. At any point. Almost none. Kev got to say that like four times today.

The biggest concern with him was his defensive issues, but I honestly didn’t think he looked that bad at third. Now, ideally we force him into shortstop with Keith at third, but give the guy his applause. He deserves every bit of it.

Tarik Skubal is the Best Pitcher on Planet Earth.

Six innings pitched, three hits, seven strikeouts, one run allowed, 0.00 ERA. Come on now. Not only did Skenes botch a 1st inning against the Mets (it was more Oneil Cruz’ fault but whatever), but Skubal proves again why he’s a two-time Cy Young, on his way to a third. Even if he did swerve a little in that first inning, allowing two baserunners, he pulled it together as he always does.

One thing I do want to see more from Skubal this year is commitment. I know it’s a contract year for him, so he wants to stay healthy, but on the other hand, it’s a contract year for him, so he wants to get paid. Six innings is fine for a first start, but maybe a few more until the bullpen works itself out (looking at you Drew Anderson).

I trust Skubal on the mound with my life. He threw seven pitches in the 4th inning. Seven pitches. I’m gonna say it one more time. He threw seven pitches in the 4th inning. Even if this is his last year for the Tigers, it’s going to be an amazing year.

Dillon Dingler Might be the Best Catcher in the League.

Dillon Dingers, Francis the Man-cis, Dirk Diggler, Boogie Nights, whatever you want to call him, he’s the best catcher in the league. This should come as a surprise to no one, Dingler is, without a doubt, my favorite Tiger, and might be the best behind the plate in the league. Here’s my pitch.

Okay so obviously Cal Raleigh hit 60 homers and led the league in RBIs last year. Big whoop for Big Dumper. Dingler is better defensively, a wildly underrated stat, and is just the better player so far in 2026. Also, Cal hit .247 last year, while Dingler hit .278. One hit wonder vs a consistent  and handsome devil? You tell me.

Anyways, comparison is the thief of joy, so let’s focus more on my guy. Dingler went 2-5 with a homer in the 5th, and while he didn’t steal any bases, he stole my heart yet again. Dingler is the quintessential modern-day roleplayer. Nothing shiny or flashy, but delivers time and time again. 2025 Golden Glove winner and soon to be hall-of-famer, I’m expecting big things from him this year.

Tork is Back.

Spencer Torkelson, or, “The Goldfish”, as I’m now calling him, went STATS with STATS in today’s game. For a guy who’s fresh off a 31 homer season, he is certainly looking to improve. I’ve always believed in Tork (no I haven’t), and I’m glad to see he’s got a strong start to 2026. 

Tork also is a bit of an ace up the sleeve. One big issue with the offense is that we can’t really hit lefties. Tork is one of the only righties who can kind of perform well against them. If he finds his stride this year and launches a few more Tork-Bombs, he could be a crucial postseason player.

So you’re probably wondering to yourself, “Why on earth is his nickname ‘The Goldfish’?” Ten second memory baby. We’re so back.

We’re Winning the AL Central.

Let’s go ahead and rule out both the White Sox and the Twins from this discussion. While Twins pitcher Joe Ryan and Sox rookie hitter Munetaka Murakami did boast some impressive numbers today, they’re not good teams. Lost by a combined 13 runs.

So that leaves us with the Guardians, Royals, and of course, Tigers as contenders for the American League Central. The last time we won the AL Central was 2014 with that nightmarish rotation of Verlander, Scherzer, Fister, ect. Well, we have our good luck charm back with JV, and I don’t expect too much from Cleveland this year, as does anyone.

The Royals are good though. Bobby Witt Jr. is the best shortstop in the league, they have excellent roleplayers, and Cole Ragans is my sleeper pick for the Cy Young. But I think we’re just better than them, plain and simple. We’ve proved what our ceiling is, and if the ship stays afloat, I think we will bring it home this year.

So with Valdez making his first start in a Tiger uniform tomorrow, and baseball being officially back in its glorious form, I’ll leave you with one remaining thought.

MCGONIGLE MUST LEAD OFF!

Los Lions

Baseball officially being back has filled the hole in my soul where football was, and as we get closer to the draft day by day, it’s time to start taking things more seriously. Last week I pointed out some pretty big holes in our roster, and with Brad looking like he’s just sipping margaritas in the Caribbean during free agency, we definitely need to capitalize on the draft. Here are some players I think are worthy of being picked up by us in the draft. This is a pretty big segment, so I’ll divide it up week by week until the big day. Let’s start with the offensive trenches, the O-line.

We need a good O-line in order to click on offense. You give Goff time in the pocket, he’s going to hurt you. And if you give Gibbs blocking, he’s going to hurt you. The O-line is so crucial to our success overall, just look at last year’s fiasco.

There’s a chance Brad trades up. For anyone, but especially in the first round. He clearly values the O-line a lot, and there are a ton of great prospects this year at that position. Plus with Decker leaving, there’s now a huge target to expose for the opposing D-line. 

The first player that can fix that is Vega Ioane out of Penn State, who I’ve talked about before on here. Ioana is a big, physical boulder who would fit right in for Decker. He is a guard that is flexible to be played at tackle, but with some questions regarding Ratledge and Manu, things might get shuffled around a bit behind there. We’d probably have to trade up, which I wouldn’t be against, but if we’re not willing to, I’d love to snag Kayden Proctor, who we shouldn’t have to trade up for.

Some long shots at O-line include Utah Ute Spencer Fano, who would likely go in the top 10. Him or Miami Hurricane Francis Mauigoa, whichever goes first, I’ll take the latter. These are the two best in the class, and seem to be can’t-miss prospects. However, they’d cost a pretty penny to grab. We do have a lot of later round picks though, so if we can coax Cleveland or another inept front office into dealing them away, I think we should jump at the opportunity. 

Both are from well-coached, proven systems, and would be day-1 difference makers for the entire offense. Here’s my argument for taking an O-linemen in the first round: Play to your strengths. The offense is the best in the league when healthy and coordinated properly. Lock up another Penei, and let’s get the show going again.

Offense wins championships. Defensive linemen coming next week.

The ‘Stons

Jalen Duren’s OT miss last night was pretty heartbreaking to watch, but I’m really proud of how we performed otherwise. That Atlanta Hawks team is scorching hot, and we always have trouble with them, so I expected us to lose pretty badly without Cade, but JB and company proved everyone wrong once again.

I gotta first acknowledge Daniss Jenkins, who scored 30 on the Lakers, who have also been on a tear now that Luka Doncic is in a custody battle and playing out of his mind. But without Cade, we’ve gone 3-1 so far, with 10 games left in the season. We’ve got a rough patch coming up after tonight’s game against the Pelicans, with Minnesota (twice), OKC, Philly, and the sneaky Orlando Magic, which we could very well all lose. But given that this team has proven me wrong about their ability to play without Cade, I’m going to trust in JB that we win a few of these. Who knows if Philly is going to be healthy in a week.

I’ve already mentioned Daniss and him stepping up to facilitate the offense, but really everyone is playing like their life is on the line. Duren and Tobias helped comeback from a 22 point deficit last night, Ausar had seven steals against the Warriors (seven steals guys) and locked up Luka Doncic, and Duncan Robinson has shot really well from three over the stretch.

Obviously there’s other names to be mentioned, but I’m overall flabbergasted by how well we’ve done without Cade. I might contradict myself in a week, but I have significantly less concern now. Maybe he can sit out the first round.

Just don’t draw the Hornets. They scare me.