Tigers Lose Again: Epic Collapse Continues

Tigers Lose Again: Epic Collapse Continues

I am running out of words to describe these games. Um, so naturally, let let’s let’s talk about it and find the words all today on Locked on Tigers. You are Locked on Tigers, your daily Detroit Tigers podcast, part of the Locked On podcast network. your team every day. What is up everybody? Welcome back to another edition of Locked On Tigers. I’m of course your host Scott Bentley. Today is Thursday, September 25th, 2025. Thank you so much for making Lockdown Tigers your first listen every single day. We are free and available wherever you get your podcasts, including YouTube. part of the Lockdown Podcast Network. Your team each and every single day. Even when your team loses every single day, we are still here. That was true in the entire season of 2022 when they did just lose seemingly every game. And that is true in September of 2025 when they have lost nearly every single game. that continued on Wednesday night. The Tigers fall five to one, the hands of the Cleveland Guardians yet again, who I I don’t really think there’s any other way around talking about the relationship between the Guardians and the Tigers other than like pure and utter domination. Um, and it’s it’s it’s been that way for the better part of a decade now. It wasn’t always like that. Um, I mean, actually, believe it or not, there there was a point in my life when I was younger where Cleveland was um not as competitive the Tigers were. And it wasn’t a complete disaster every time they played and now it is. And even when they win, it’s like they win the the meaningless, you know, May game against Cleveland and you’re like, “Oh, wow. They actually beat Cleveland. That’s kind of a surprise.” But it’s a it’s a Tuesday in April when push comes to shove and it comes down to it every and I said this on yesterday’s show as well. It really does feel like every meaningful game that these two teams a and they also didn’t play a meaningful game for the better part of like six years within that decade but they went what three was it three years without like winning a series against Cleveland or something ridiculous like they have completely sununned them for the better part of a decade um and every game of of actual impact or meaning on the season goes Cleveland’s way. The Tigers fall to 85 and 73. Cleveland is now 86 and 72. And I don’t say go Cleveland’s way in a uh like disrespectful way towards them. They they they earn every single win. This is not the Tigers got absolutely outclassed on Wednesday night. Completely and entirely outclassed. Did not look like a team that was fighting for its playoff life at all. Cleveland did. Cleveland did. And they’re going to win the American League Central in 2025. And they deserve to. They were under 500 in August and they deserve to win the American League Central more than you. And and that’s the reality of the situation. That’s the truth in in my eyes. I said last night, if they lose game two after losing game one, the division is done. I meant it. Was not a hyperbole. I I I meant it. That feels like it’s wraps on the American League Central. Is it not? Am I wrong to say that? It’s not mathematically. I don’t I don’t think I’m being too pessimistic for a team that hasn’t won a game in a week and a half and has won like one total game in the last two weeks. They’re down a game. They don’t owe the tiebreaker. So they they need to be up they need to make up two games even though they’re only a game back. You need to make up two games in four days. And one of those days you still have to play Cleveland in Cleveland again, which you clearly are incapable of doing as proven by a decade of evidence, not even just the last 48 hours. Like I I guess if you’re looking for some optimism, I Godspeed. Okay, if you if you’re looking for some optimism, I hope you find it and I hope you share it with the class because I I I cannot I have turned over every rock and looked under every what tree? What do people look under? I don’t know. I I can’t find any anywhere. I mean, if you win the finale, I I guess then if if you win the finale, you’re tied again, but again, you don’t own the tiebreaker. So then you go to Boston, who’s a playoff team and has been beating the Blue Jays the last couple of days. You have to go to Fenway and beat that team more than however much Cleveland beats a Rangers team that is not a postseason team, but is still very talented. This game also was just copy and paste of how every game has gone in September. I feel like you could just stop the episode right now and just rewatch yesterday’s show and you would ultimately hit the same points. I that’s not great marketing for my product, I guess, here. So, but the they couldn’t hit in big moments. Okay, that’s been the entire month of September. They struck out a lot. It’s been the entire month of September. They made awful defensive plays, multiple in one inning. Does that not sound familiar? Okay, cool. that that’s that’s a lot of losses this season and that’s two days in a row where you’ve been able to say that those defensive plays also then directly correlated to runs and their pitching lastly their pitching is so thin because you got zero reinforcements at the deadline that you have to go to your low leverage guys in close games late and it cost you does that not sound like every game that the Tigers have lost in the last two months, cuz it sure does to me. What went wrong? Just about everything really to an extent and like varying degrees. This was a four-run ball game. You wouldn’t know it if if the score bug for FanDuel like broke, okay, and and all you could see was just the the players. There were no graphics and no score bug. You would think the score was 15 to -5. One team clearly went out there with intent to win and do damage and make things happen. And one went out there blindfolded hoping that something good was going to happen at some point. Which also permeates through the organization apparently because that was the mindset in the off season and at the trade deadline. [Music] and and and like no I I I don’t think that it’s only the front office’s fault. That’s ridiculous. Every player has stopped playing. I don’t think that it’s just the player’s fault. That’s ridiculous. the coaching decisions in this game, the managerial decisions in this game, what we’re about to talk about after the break here, I I think he got AJ got absolutely outclassed in the managerial battle in this game and votes a great manager, manager of the year last year. Deserved fantastic. My point is everyone is at fault. Why are we so obsessed with like who’s whose one fault is it? Who’s the most at fault? It is a historic collapse 150 years in the making. Dude, this is not one person’s fault. This is a group effort. This is the only group project ever that has been assigned by a teacher where everyone pulled their equal weight. everyone. And that’s the bed you made. Now you got to lay in it. Let’s talk about what went wrong because I know that sounds fun and that’s what everyone wants to do. We’ll do that right after this. Got to talk to you about our friends over at FanDuel. The NFL season is here and it’s much more fun than what the baseball season has given us here in the city of Detroit. Right now, new customers can bet just $5 and if your bet wins, you’ll get $300 in bonus bets to use across the app. FanDuel’s making sure you’re ready for kickoff with can’t miss offers like that. FanDuel’s great because it fits however you like to bet. Player props, building same game parlays, even jumping in as the live action unfolds. So, are you ready? Download the FanDuel app now by visiting fanuel.com to get started. That’s fuel.com to place your first $5 bet. All right, everybody. Welcome back here. Segment two, Lockdown Tigers. Appreciate y’all for tuning in as always, making us your first listen every single day, even on these days. Shout out to the everydayers that do tune in every day. And we will of course be back tomorrow. I say of course, you know, gritting my teeth. Um, because I just watching this product and then having to get in front of a a camera and a mic and then talk about for half an hour said product. Um, I I wake up every morning beyond thankful that I I get to do this and that this is my life. I I really do. Even on days like this, there’s nothing I’d rather be doing. That doesn’t mean it doesn’t feel like I just got punched in the face and other areas repeatedly before turning on the mic. So, with that visual, uh, we will talk about what went wrong. We’re in segment two. We haven’t even really broken down the game in in too much of a capacity. Um, like I said, I mean, really everything to an extent. I I actually want to start with the seventh inning though. And look, like the Tigers were already down three to one going into the seventh and they weren’t going to score, dude. Like final score 3-1, 5-1, whatever. Okay, this offense was absolutely asleep at the wheel. Nothing was going to happen. But the seventh inning was a a great inning to highlight everything that has gone wrong for this team over the last month and how it is not just bad luck or like whoopsy daisy. It is of their own valition. Jamai Jones bats in the what is that the top of the seventh? I think I guess it might have been the six, but no. Either way, he enters the game and pinch hits for Parker Meadows. Immediately vote has a righty ready. He comes into the game and faces Jamai Jones. So now Jamai Jones is not facing the platoon that you actually wanted him to face. And then on top of that, Parker Meadows is out of the game. Meaning you have to put either Carrie Carpenter or Jamai Jones in the outfield. Now, I don’t know if you know anything about Carrie Carpenter or Jamai Jones. Neither is a very good defender. Carrie Carpenter at least has a little bit of an arm on him. Jamai Jones I is a really poor defender. And that’s honestly like maybe even putting it nicely. Okay, so he enters the game. He he struck out by the way in his at bat against Gatis, which was always going to happen. Your outfield defense is now Wil Perez, Jamai Jones, Riley Green. All because you didn’t want Parker to face a lefty that badly with two outs in an inning. I adamantly disagree with that decision. Adamantly. You knew that if you put Jamai Jones in the game, he was going to go to Gatis. That was death taxes and that. Okay. It was always going to happen. I defend AJ a lot to the dismay of of a handful of listeners that do not like AJ very much. I think he’s a great manager. That was a brutal play and in the last month there have been a handful of those. It is inexcusable that the team has gotten to this point and that decisions like that are being made. You’re removing your best defender from the the defensive structure of your team for the last third of the game. You’re putting in Jamai Jones, who I absolutely adore, is basically a career minor leager, and his only value this year has been against lefties who he’s not going to face. All of those things considered, I think you probably should have just left Parker Meadows in the ball game. Because then you have Jamai Jones in the outfield who makes a brutal play, makes a terrible read on a ball. It bounces. It leads to runs. Raphael Montero enters the ball game. He can’t throw a strike for anything. He can’t throw a strike. And while that is true, it also like he probably should have recorded two outs. Jamai Jones in right field gets a terrible read on a ball. Just completely awful. And then Dylan Dingler just drops a popup behind home plate in and out of the glove. The next pitch was never going to be a strike. death taxes, Cleveland going to Hunter Gatis to face Jamai Jones and Raphael Montero walking. I I forget who even was at the plate for Cleveland. And that one I don’t put on AJ. Do you know why? Because you kind of have to go to Montero because your bullpen is thinner than uh something really thin paper. I don’t know. Who cares? Since the deadline, this is your reality. You had an opportunity to bring in bullpen help. You didn’t at all. And now in these high leverage close games late in the season that determine your life in October, you have to go to Paul Seawald who’s just getting absolutely lit up every time he’s on the mound. He he gives up hardline drives every single at bat. Raphael Montero who can’t throw a strike, walks everybody and had an RA over five and a half when you acquired him. Chris Paddock like you you have you have two relievers that you kind of trust and both of them blew a game in the last series as well. Your front office gave you nothing at the deadline. You have a career minor leaguer who’s never really been a good defender. For as much as I I love and appreciate what he’s done for the team this year, none of it has come defensively. And then of course because when it rains it pours with this team against this other team, one of your only good consistent players screws up and makes an error as well because of course he does. So the seventh inning drove me nuts. Even though ultimately they could have thrown a perfect, you know, immaculate inning and it wouldn’t have mattered. They still would have lost three to one. Um, the reason I say that is because the offense was terrible. Uh, 0 for three with runners of scoring position, seven men left on base. It is truly remarkable how bad this team has become seemingly overnight in high leverage situations, man. Like they went from a team that in the first half was one of the better risk teams in all of baseball in the first half of the season, legitimately was in the top like seven or eight in the league in risk for most of the first three or four months of the season. to the point where at the end of the year when you look at their like risk numbers, you’re going to be like, “Wow, that’s actually not that bad.” It is that bad because they were so awful in the last two months that it dragged them down to middle of the pack when they were one of the higher ranked teams in ball in that regard for, you know, all of pre-allar break, the first 100 games really. Anytime anyone is on base, they just crumble, man. Zack McKinstry had some awful at bats in this ball game. Carrie Carpenter brutal at bats. Carrie Carpenter just swings at everything, dude. Um, his OPS is now under 800 on the season. He’s had a couple of really strong cold fronts throughout the year. Um, and yeah, like I mean he has a what feels like a Jav Bayzesque walk rate. Like he he just goes up there hacking. Torqulson, brutal again, brutal at bats. That that at bat to to Gatis at the end of the game was was completely non-competitive. Had some rough strikeouts. Torlson at least had a knock, you know, to give credit where credit is due there. His OPS is also under 800 now on the season. Trey Sweeney, Trey Sweeney went one for two, I guess. I mean, golly. All right. Well, we haven’t even talked about the pitching yet. We’ve we’ve gone this whole time. I guess we talked about Raphael Montero a little bit, but let’s do that. Um, we’ll talk about what went right, if you guys really even want that to happen, and then yeah, we’ll wrap up and send you off on your Thursday. Okay, we’ll do that right after this. First, I got to talk to you’all about our friends over at Rouette. 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Tigers lose 5 to one to Cleveland. We’re still talking about what went wrong. We’re starting segment three, so I should tell you how it uh kind of went. Jack Flity, last person I really want to talk about on this side of things. Um, four and a third, five hits, three earned runs, no walks, six strikeouts, and the home run. Um, I thought he had decent stuff, but was just horribly inefficient, man. Like, I’ll be real with you. I he was just spraying the ball all over the place. He had no clue where much of anything was going. I’m honestly the the most surprising stat of the night is that he had zero walks. I I mean, watching him pitch, he was what, over 80 pitches? at 80 pitch, whatever he was at at four and a third. Like the fact that he did that without walking anybody is pretty remarkable. Um but a lot of deep counts really got himself into trouble where the then okay like it’s uh you know he worked the count full went up 02 and then it next thing you know it’s 32 whatever and then was just kind of forced to throw a ball over the heart of the plate to prevent a walk and then that’s where the damage was done. So, um, yeah, I mean, he was just spraying and praying and, uh, give up a nuke eventually as well. So, not too much else to say there. His RA on the season will end at 464, 8 and 15 record. Needless to say, a pretty disappointing year for somebody who a lot of people, myself included, were excited to bring back. Um, what went right? Not a whole lot, man. Um, I thought Tyler Holton looked excellent. One and twothirds of perfect baseball with two strikeouts. He really has turned it around and he’s the only person, I think, maybe on the whole roster that you can say that about um that actually has gotten a lot better in the month of September than they were throughout the year. So, tip of the cap to him, I guess. His RA is quietly down to 366 now on the season. um which given his struggles uh really for a a handful for for a large part of this regular season is I think pretty impressive. So good for him. That’ll be somebody that you need, you know, down the stretch here if you want to still try and make the playoffs. We’ll talk about that in a second. Um but you know, he’s under team control, whatever. You’ll have him going forward, too. Will vest I thought was fine. Um I mean, you know, he entered bases loaded, no outs. Uh it’s kind of an impossible situation to get out of. He still kind of almost did to be honest. Um and like Paul Seaworld honestly should have been on what went wrong. Like I I I guess he threw one inning and didn’t give up any runs. If you’re just looking at results and and that’s all you care about, then so be it. That’s what he did. But every single hit is just a rope, dude. Like that there’s a reason his RA is five. like he he’s not fooling anybody out there and he should not be pitching in high leverage situations, which to be fair, he wasn’t. Uh this was completely low leverage because there’s no chance the Tigers were going to do anything other than, you know, roll over and die there in the ninth inning. Um offensively, no, dude. Riley Green, you know, had some fine at bats, I guess, walk and and a hit. I think he’s the only person that got on base twice, but like I I’m not complimenting the offense, you know. Good one stuff. Justin Andrew Malloy promoted to the majors. Jace Young demoted to Triple A. I kind of feel whatever about this. Um I I I I love Mallaloy. He’s a great dude. I I think I I I root for him a lot. I hope that he is able to make some adjustments and be a consistent, you know, major league regular because I think he’s just a fantastic human. Um, but like I, you know, I I think they probably just made this move because they expect to face more lefties than righties the rest of the way. I think that’s pretty much all there is to it. And ultimately, Malloy can draw walks with the best of them, and that’s where a lot of his value comes. Um, but just the the the pure hitting has not translated to the major league level. Um, but like certainly it h nothing has translated for Jace Young. So I guess that’s um again I I think it’s just matchup ball. I I don’t really think this changes a whole lot. Um what else happened? Uh Charlie Morton’s back with the Braves. That’s kind of funny. I don’t really care. I just sound like a miserable miserable human being, man. And that’s like not how I live life ever and and not how I want to. But I like the last eight things we’ve talked about, I’ve just been like, h whatever. Who cares? I care. The fact that we have gotten to a point where I’m saying I don’t is is mind-boggling. I I I always care. Um, Ter Scooble visits David Fry in the hospital. Uh, the report is that there’s some very scientific terms that I’m not even going to try to repeat. Uh, in terms of like naming the fractures in the bones that are are broken. Um, but in my non-d doctoral brain, it uh it sounds like given the scenario and the fact that he did get hit in the face by a terubble fastball, this kind of looks like best case scenario. Obviously, best case is just like not him getting hit in the face. But looking back, I mean, it looks like he’s going to have a broken nose. He’s going to have some small fractures in his face, but all things considered, it looks like he’s going to be totally fine. And honestly, they gave the timeline. They said no surgery and he’ll be probably fine within 6 to 8 weeks. So, the fact that like before the new year, he he should be, you know, totally good again is is incredible. So, that’s great news. That’s all I got, man. Uh we’ll end with this. Let me let me tell you my biggest fear, okay? And this came to me while watching this game. My biggest fear is that this team will go into the winter, nothing will change in terms of personnel. Um, and that one I that’s not even my biggest fear. That one, that’s not really part of it. I’m expecting nothing to change like in terms of firing managers or or front office or whatever. I I I don’t think there’s going to be any turnover. Okay. But that’s a conversation we can save for the off seasonason when it comes. My biggest fear is that this team will do a a lot of nothing in the off seasonason and roll out a very very similar team in 2026 uh which will be school’s final year on the Detroit Tigers because they will not resign him. And when asked why, the front office will respond why they didn’t have a very active off seasonason. That is the front office’s answer will be, “Well, you see, we had a great team and the collapse was a fluke that won’t last and was a once in a 200year thing that’ll never happen again. And they’re not actually that bad. It’s an unsustainable month.” We don’t look at that and take too much out of it. look at the rest of the season when they were the best team in baseball. That will never happen again. We know that this is a good team and they will justify that to us on reasons why they are not aggressive in the offseason when bringing in external players because before a historic September collapse, they were in first place and surely that won’t happen again. That is my biggest fear at the moment. And I I’m not saying that that is going to happen. I’m not saying I’ve like heard thing like everyone’s focused on the games still, okay? They still have meaningful games to play. But remember this conversation. Remember this right now. And if they don’t do anything and we get into spring training and the team looks awfully similar, remember this conversation on September 25th when there were still games left even in this season because it has not left my brain since I thought about it. Ultimately, the games still matter. Uh you’re not eliminated. You are a game out of the division. Let me check the score. I’m recording this very late. I rewatched parts of the game because I enjoy torture apparently. Um, but no, I I try to be good at my job. Um, let me find it here. I’m just like rambling. The Astros are down six to nothing in the eighth inning against the Athletics. So assuming that holds in some just unbelievable almost way, even though you’re on an an L8 and are like 1 and 12 in your last 13 games, the Tigers will still be in sole possession of the last wild card spot going into this ball game on Thursday. I I mean, we’ll we’ll see. I I don’t expect them to like really ever beat a Cleveland team ever again. So, um it’s kind of like how I felt with U of M and Ohio State for a while there. It’s like until you do it, until you win an even remotely meaningful series against this team in a big moment, I’m going to predict Cleveland to win all of them. That’s really just fuel the fire, too, because it’s also Ohio Michigan. Um, I’m sure a lot of Guardians fans are getting a kick out of that that as they should. Tip of the cap. I I have no hatred or slander in my heart for uh for that. It’s frustration when I see the colors of the jersey and like the logo and like the team because I know that my teams that I love more than anything is about to lose. But they do things right and and and we don’t when we play them and that’s just really what it comes down to. So um you try to salvage the series maybe the season in game three. Parker Messi, who’s been fantastic for Cleveland so far in his uh short major league career, this being his first season in the majors. TBD for the Tigers. Um yeah, I mean AJ said that they still don’t even know who they’re throwing. So we’ll find that out. Um but yeah, you got a one-ame lead on Houston, assuming that that score holds, like I said, and you got four games left, so we’ll see. We’ll see. Um, yeah, if you win this game, then you tie the division back up with three games to go. Give yourself a little bit of hope still. But I I don’t think there is a soul on this planet that is a Tigers fan and is watching this or listening to this and actually believes that they have a legitimate chance on Thursday. Just all life has been sucked out of this organization at the moment. So hopefully we get proven wrong. Thanks for making lockdown tigers your first listen every single day. Shout out to the everydayers that do tune in every day. We’ll of course be back tomorrow regardless of what happens. Sorry for the long episodes lately. I just am I don’t know sad rambling I guess. Um but I’ll I’ll try to work on that because uh yeah, we we don’t need to suffer any longer than we have to. So I’ll try to get him back under 30 here. But peace and love. Going to therapy is dope. I appreciate you all greatly. Don’t tag us, baby.

Today we discuss the Detroit Tigers 5-1 loss to the Cleveland Guardians. We talk Jack Flaherty, Zack McKinstry, and more!

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