Tigers… Win! Tied with Cleveland Heading into Final Weekend

Tigers… Win! Tied with Cleveland Heading into Final Weekend

The Detroit Baseball Tigers have won a baseball game. 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 Friday, September 26th, 2025. Thank you so much for making Lockton 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 every day. Today’s episode is brought to you by FanDuel. 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. So download the app today. The Detroit Tigers have won a game. Not only have they won a game, they have won a game against the Cleveland Guardians. It is it is a beautiful day. It It’s just such a beautiful day. Go do something you you never thought was possible. You know, ask out your your crush. Uh go maybe play the lottery. Um go ask your boss for a a raise or a promotion or something. Do do the unthinkable with your day because anything as Kevin Garnett said, “Anything is possible.” The Detroit Tigers win 4-2 in Cleveland over the Cleveland Guardians. They are now tied with Cleveland again in record on the 2025 season, which means they’re tied with them at top the AL Central at 86 and 73. Thank goodness was my first thought. Legitimately was just a a huge massive sigh of relief. Even if they don’t come back and win the division, which I do not think they will, okay, I in no way, shape, or form am I insinuating that that is like going to be the result of this one win. Okay, I am not holding my breath for that. But at this point, it is, and this sounds so sad to say out loud, but it is legitimately so nice to just know that they’re not going to lose out. They are not going to end the season on a 12game losing streak because it was so bleak there for a little bit. a little bit being like, you know, 24 hours ago where that was in everybody’s mind. It was like, are they gonna win a game the rest of the season? Is that is that a is that on the table? Is that a possibility? And sure enough, it’s not. They they may lose the next four and just look like they did, you know, the previous seven. But they are not going to end the season on an L12. All right, they’re not going to do it. And you know, expectations change throughout the season. Obviously, this is still a massive disappointment that these games matter. Okay, it is a I I’m in a great mood. They won. They’re they’re back in the thick of, you know, the race and everything. I I want them to make the postseason. I know a lot of people, especially after the losing, we’re looking around and we’re like, “What’s even the point? Don’t whatever.” I’m not going to tell anybody on the planet ever how to be a fan. Okay? We all are are fans in different ways. Um I, you know, one is not better than the others. It’s all subjective. It’s sports. It’s supposed to be fun. You be a fan how you want to be a fan. Um, I for me I I just the whole point is to win. The whole point is to have a chance to win a World Series and you can only do that in the postseason. And I I don’t care if you do end the season on an L12. If you make the postseason, you have a chance. And hopefully this win on Thursday night helps seal the deal of giving them a chance and giving them a postseason birth. I I just again it’s like a a weight has been lifted off of the fan base’s shoulders. I that’s genuinely how I feel. Yesterday I had said that games one and two were extremely similar in terms of how the team lost. This game was extremely reminiscent of the first few months of the season and how they would win and how they got off to the massive lead in the division. That is right. They got off to an early lead in the ball game. Do you remember that? That feels like a lifetime ago. Do you remember the first two months of the season when the Tigers were like that? That was what the talking point was is that they’re the best first inning team in baseball. And then they also won like every single first game of a series for like three months or something ridiculous. Not literally, but it felt like it, right? They they got off to a 10 start in every series and they scored in the first inning of like every game it felt like and that’s why they were able to win so many ball games and win so many series. So they get off to the early lead not only the two runs and due to the two home runs in the first inning but then they score again in the second and they continue to apply pressure. They’re up three nothing going into the bottom of the second inning. Then you have good pitching, not stellar, but good enough pitching. And then a bullpen that was nails. I was very impressed with the pen. The best that I felt about this bullpen in in in maybe months. The best performance, I should say, from the bullpen in maybe months. Not the I feel the same about it. It’s one game. I feel the exact same about the bullpen going forward as I do tonight. This game did not change my opinion of thinking we have like some elite bullpen now. So, what went right? We’re going to start with the offense. Okay, we will take it. This was not some, you know, burst onto the scene, we’re so back moment necessarily. Okay, it wasn’t an explosion of runs. They scored four, but eight hits, five walks, that’s not a bad day at the office. Okay, we will gladly take 13 base runners in a ball game. That feels like the moon based on what we’ve been seeing lately. 10 strikeouts, not a super low number, not an egregious really high number. a pretty, you know, more than you’d like but nothing crazy type of performance in terms of swing and miss and strikeouts from the offense which has been a huge problem in this series and dating back to the previous series. Better at bats today and it showed Jamai Jones and Winsil Perez both homer in the top of the first inning to start off this ball game. Let’s talk about that right after this. First though, got to talk to you about our friends over at Rouette. What do you get when you mix a bald eagle? Okay, imagine this. It’s a bald eagle. It’s standing on top of a silverback gorilla, which is also riding a T-Rex. That’s called confidence, baby. All right. Pure confidence. If you’re looking for something beyond the usual pill, it’s time to meet Rouette Golong. That’s exactly where Rouette Golong comes in. This isn’t just another ED pill. 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And that first inning, I think, really set the tone. That goes kind of without saying. It’s very easy to say, well, they scored in the first and then won, so obviously that must have done something. But it really felt like it did. Just the again, I talk about a weight off the shoulders and a sigh of relief. It almost looks like the team had that happened to them real time. Like the anxiety almost melted off of them after those home runs. I don’t know. that that could just me be me being, you know, stupid and uh I don’t know, under analytical, over analytical, whichever whichever. Uh that that could just be totally ridiculous to say. And they’re professionals and they go out there every day and they they truly know. But the team has been playing so tense from the eye test lately, right? Just white knuckling everything. The pitchers have been overthrowing. The hitters have been overswinging. Needless to say, they needed some sort of confidence booster early in this game. A moment to just relax everybody like genuinely to just to just put the team at ease, man. And it really feels like they got that in the form of that two home run first inning on the road against a team they can’t beat and has just made up an a historic amount of ground on you. I I I I use the term sigh of relief and I have already a lot in this show. I really feel like that’s kind of the comparable to that. So shout out to Jamai Jones. Everybody has been a part of the criticism lately. Jamai Jones has certainly been included in that as well this series and for him to start off the ball game in that way I I think speaks volumes to uh to him and and his preparedness and this team. He’s got a 923 OPS on the season man. Shout out Jamai Jones. One of the good stories of the Tigers year. Windal Perez home run two walks in this game. Gets on base three times. I I He has been swinging out of his shoes for the last like week, man. Like curveball is bouncing on home plate. He’s trying to send to Mars. Like just just has been hacking so aggressively. And I thought that this was the first game in a while where a and I’m sure he was swinging hard obviously for the home run early as well, but it almost felt like that was a you know get off my back situation where it’s like okay that’s behind us now we can just go back to taking the professional windsil Perez at bats that we’ve become accustomed to over the last calendar year really and that was so nice to see you had a Javi getting in on the action because why not you know of course when you least expect it. Here comes Jav. Maybe that’s Jav’s thing. Maybe that’s the Tigers thing. They They just can’t be the team. They They have to be like, “Okay, now that everybody has lost hope, it’s go time, baby.” I say that tongue and cheek. Obviously, I hope that they don’t feel that way. But Javi goes two for four with an RBI. has just been terrible at the plate in the second half. That’s a meaningful run. It’s a meaningful run. The game got within two runs. He had an RBI. Means a lot. Also hit the ball hard even on an out in this game. And then the strikeout he had was a terrible call. That ball. That was a solid baseball outside um by the umpire. So really I I mean much improved at bats from what we’ve been seeing. maybe just needed a few days off to kind of rest and get the body back to where he wanted it to be. Outside of those guys, you had a Riley Green home run. Riley Green’s game as a whole was a perfect encapsulation of his season. And it’s everything that makes him amazing and makes him truly a a great talent and also everything that makes him beyond frustrating. He goes one for three with a walk and two strikeouts. And those two strikeouts came in big moments. One of which was literally with the bases loaded. He had a solo homer, a walk good, but wanting to see a lot more walks than we have been from Riley. Then a strike out with men on and a strike out with the bases loaded. just a classic Riley Green 2025 performance. So, the offense was good enough. Again, not world beaters, not anything that that you’re going to freak out about and say, “Oh my goodness, we’re so back,” but enough to win. And the pitching was fantastic. I I was very impressed with the pitching. And it felt like a a peak, you know, September of 2024 pitching chaos game. You had Troy Melton’s start. He went three and two/3, two hits, one earned run, two walks, one strikeout. His RA is now 276. You know, I’m really excited for this dude to be stretched out and be an actual starter. And I hope that that happens in 2026. I really do because right now, you know, he’s just been in the bullpen so long that they’re not going to send him out there and be like, “Hey, go throw.” I mean, AJ said it before the game like, “Don’t go out there and throw 100 pitches.” is like he hasn’t done that in so long. That would be terrible for his arm. So, he he was never going to go super deep into this ball game. But the stuff is so good and he is a starter by trade. I I really hope that this is I’m not comparing him to this pitcher, okay? This is a Hall of Famer. I’m not bestowing this upon him. I’m just saying like this happens like a Chris Sales situation where, you know, he starts off in the bullpen and then gets moved to a starter after his rookie season. I guess Garrett Crochet similar, right? That like that happens and I’m hoping that that is the type of career path that he has in front of him cuz I I think he can be such a good starting pitcher in this league for a long time and um hopefully next spring he’ll be stretched out and and treated as such. Treated as such. In this outing, the command was kind of all over the place on his secondary stuff. Um but the fast ball was good enough and and it’s an electric pitch. It’s a really effective pitch. And again, like he he did enough. Was he completely lights out and dominant? No. He had one strike out and two walks on a run given up like that. That’s not a a box score that’s going to get you into Coopertown. But it was enough. He made pitches when he had to. He was living on fast balls on the bottom rail over and over and over just peppering them. And Cleveland has been so used to those, whether it’s the splitters from the bullpen or the sliders from the starters, been so used to kind of spitting on those pitches throughout the series that in this game it kind of caught up with them and they were able to just pepper them low. Um, so really impressed with how he handled this ball game and then the bullpen is the star of the show. The offense, we’ll talk about in a second, left a lot of opportunities to be desired. Okay, they should have scored a lot more than they did. Four runs again isn’t anything crazy. Melton, not anything crazy. The bullpen something crazy. All right, the bullpen was absolutely stellar. Brandt Herder, Tommy Canley, Tyler Holton, Kyle Finnegan, Will Best, the A+ pen goes out there and I think all five of them looked great. And you were going to empty the clip, right? You needed a win more than you needed air to breathe. You were gonna empty the clip and send out any and everybody not named like maybe TK Scubble was gonna like walk into this game. Anybody else pretty much was available. Herder goes over an inning and strikes out Steven Quan. That might be the most impressive thing that’s happened to the Tigers in 2025. Oh my gosh. This guy has just done nothing but terrorize this organization his entire major league career. and and just to watch him actually strike like not only strike out, he struck out on a ball that was like five feet off the plate. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him do that ever. Nonetheless, against the Tigers. I tweeted out that I I wanted Brandt Herder’s number retired and put on the brick wall in center field. Put him next to to Morris and Traml and and Sweet Lou. Oh my goodness. Put him right next to like Greenberg. Maybe he can go under Tai Cobb’s name since Tai Cobb doesn’t have a number. There’s some space there. It was just a beautiful moment that really made me emotional. It moved me. The rest of the bullpin was great, too. Tommy Canley, I think, continues to really turn a corner here. Um, now those are like famous last words. I feel like now he’s, you know, going to go out there and revert back to what he was doing, but for real, I I think the change up has looked a lot better and has looked like, honestly, not to say that he’s going to ever repeat the production he did from the first three months of the season, but that’s how the change up looks again. It looks sharp, kind of falls off the table there. I I think it looks like it did kind of in the first half again. So hopefully that’s a sign of things to come, especially if this team is end up going to end up playing postseason baseball. Um Tyler Holton, I think continues to look great. I I’ve been talking about it all September. Um he does have a run to his name, but he wasn’t on the mound for it. Kyle Finnegan gave up a a hit to J Ram. And like J Ram’s JRM, dude. Like I even more so than Stephen Quan. This dude is he wakes up every morning and goes, “How can I make the city of Detroit miserable today?” And honestly, I respect it. I I really do because he he he’s he’s so good. I wish we had a JRM. There is not a soul on this team that is a JRM, even close, really. I think he’s one of the most underrated players in baseball. I he he has transcended Tiger Killer so much that I actually like him again. He’s the only Tiger killer in my lifetime that I and not when he’s playing the Tigers and when he’s doing the killing, right? Okay. No, not a big fan. But when they when Cleveland plays other teams and I watch, you know, games just around the league throughout the summer, I love watching J Ram play baseball. Okay, that was like a weird side tangent, but uh he got a double. Uh my point was Kyle Finnegan gave up an RBI double to J Ram. I don’t even care anymore, dude. Like it it it’s so inevitable that he is going to terrorize this team that like, okay, we still got to win. I’m not even gonna be mad at a pitcher. Like that wasn’t even a ter through a splitter. It was a little bit higher than he wanted. It wasn’t like an awful pitch. It’s just Jay Ram playing against the Detroit Tigers. He He’s prime Barry Bonds and then Will Best strikes out the side and he needed that. I I know it was the bottom of a Cleveland lineup that’s not very effective. I I don’t care. He needed something to go his way. He has been really sliding with the team here over the last few weeks and I I think that’s a big moment for him to get back on the horse and a huge moment for this team to get back on the horse. Finally, a solid game from the bullpen. Been begging for this bullpen to find itself for weeks. Finally, they do it. They’re the stars of the show. Players of the game is anybody who came in relief in this game. Okay. Oh, and then also on what went right, I have written down Cleveland made an error. Um, not that I’m like celebrating errors and it didn’t even cost them a run. It’s just I have gotten so used to when we play Cleveland like we just punt the ball all over the field and don’t do anything right and Cleveland looks like, you know, the 27 Yankees. A and to just have it be on the other foot even remotely was just kind of cool to see. Okay, so that’s just me being a jerk, I guess, but I just it was nice to see the the someone wearing a a red jersey that said Guardians on it to make a bad play for a change was just such a change of pace. It almost made me tear up. All right, let’s talk about what went wrong. Not a very long list, but there is a list still. And then we’ll preview the final weekend of the season. We’ll do that right after this. First, I got to talk to all about our friends over at FanDuel. The NFL season is here. FanDuel is making sure you’re ready for kickoff with a can’tmiss offer. Right now, new c customers can bet just $5. And if your bet wins, you’ll get $300 in bonus bets to use across the app. FanDuel is great. Uh, it fits however you like to bet. player props, building a same game parlay, or even jumping in live as the action unfolds. It makes every game more exciting, whether you’re watching your team play, or just keeping an eye on your fantasy lineup. It doesn’t matter. It’s the best. So, are you ready to play? Download the FanDuel app by visiting fanuel.com to get started. That’s fuel.com to place your first $5 bet. All right, everybody. Welcome back here. Third and final segment of Lockdown Tigers. Appreciate you all for tuning in as always. What went wrong? Uh risk. Clutch hitting was still abysmal in this game. They they they won four to2. They should have won probably 8 to2. They went one for six with runners of scoring position. I It’s so funny like we were so scared late in this game that the Tigers had a three-run lead with the bases loaded. Don’t convert. And everybody is like that that it’s over. like we’re going to lose and that is going to be the thing we circle and it’s 100% we’re losing and that’s going to come back to bite him. We will take the win. I’m thrilled about the win. We should all be thrilled about the win, but they should have won by a lot more. And the problem with Risp continues to just snowball into a massive issue. Um the the lack of get being able to get a big hit ever still curses this team. Andy Abanz I thought took some pretty rough at bats in this game. I think that’s worth pointing out. Carrie Carpenter only one at bat as a pinch hitter late. Um but just again he he’s just hacking at everything, man. Uh OPS down to 792. Uh ju just chasing he swings at everything. He he is incapable of drawing a walk this season. So that’ll be something we talk about more in the offseason. He’s still, you know, one of the only fear bats on the team. This isn’t like slander to say he’s terrible or anything. It’s just I I I think he’s going to get a lot of balls outside of the strike zone the rest of this calendar year. Stuff not too much. Uh Jav played obviously had the neck stiffness thing. So clearly that’s fine. Had a good game as well. And Houston won. So you stay just one game ahead of the Astros going into this final weekend of the series season. Let’s talk about it. Preview. The final preview of the 2025 regular season. Where has the time gone? You got three games left. Three games for the rest of your lives, gentlemen. Three games for a playoff birth. You have Ka Casey Mai against Kyle Harrison, TBD against Connelly Early, and TK Scubble against TBD on game 162. Boston’s been winning games lately. I say that they did lose on Thursday night to Toronto. Um yeah, just like couldn’t hit the ball really for a long time in that ball game. Um but have won two series in a row. Won a series against Toronto, won a series against Tampa Bay, have been playing really good baseball lately because they’ve been fighting for a playoff birth as well. Um now they have a lead where I’m pretty sure the only way they can miss the postseason. They haven’t officially clinched, but if they would have to get swept by the Tigers and Houston would have to sweep the Angels, like they would have to win out and Houston would have to or Houston would have to win out and they would have to lose out is the only way they can miss the postseason. I’m pretty sure there. So, that’s the scenario. You got Tigers and Guardians. They’re tied and the Guardians own the tiebreaker. So, you got to make up a game to win the division and be the three seed. So, just make the playoffs. You’re a game ahead of Houston going into three games left going into the final series, which is three games remaining for both teams. Tigers play the Red Sox. Guardians play the Rangers. Astros play the Angels. If you win more games than Cleveland this weekend, all of a sudden, you are somehow the three seed. That that is mindboggling to me given everything that this team has gone through over the last three weeks over the last really two months. I if they win more games than Cleveland this weekend they get a fir well they don’t get a first round buy but they get home field in the wildard game which is crazy. If you win the same amount or fewer games than the Guardians, then you’re fighting for that last wild card spot. And with that, you’re obviously fighting for Houston. I guess if you sweep Boston, then it kind of gets weird depending on what Houston does with who goes where. But I think it’s pretty safe to say that it’s going to be some combination of Houston and Detroit and Cleveland there for that final seed. you win less than Cleveland and lose two more times than Houston, then you miss the postseason entirely. That is still very much on the table. So, if t the Tigers get swept and Houston wins two of three, then they’re in. The Tigers win one game this weekend and Houston sweeps the Angels, then they’re in and you’re out. I guess then part of that depends on what Cleveland does. If they get swept, then you’re still the three seed somehow. A lot of moving parts. Just win. I I don’t want to focus on other teams. I I have accepted that the division is not happening. If it does, great. Awesome. But I have come to terms with the fact that it’s not. Just go out there and beat the team across from you. Beat the Boston Red Sox and let’s play some October baseball for the second year in a row. Casey Mai, like I said, going up for the Tigers in this one against uh Kyle Harrison. This game is also on Apple TV. So no Benetti and Co. No FanDuel Sports Network. You’re going to have to watch via Apple TV. And that’s it, man. That’s it. This is the uh this is the last time we’ll speak until we know the fate of this team, man. No episode until Monday. So, this is it. Godspeed. I I’ll see you on the other side on on Monday to talk about whatever happens. They they could again be anything from division champs for the first time in 11 years and and a three seed with homefield advantage in the wild card round or literally not in the postseason at all and anywhere in between. Uh whatever happens, I hope you all have a fantastic weekend. Thank you so much for supporting the show throughout the year. I will still be here every day like in the offseason too. this show. If you’re new to this show and and just, you know, found out about locked on Tigers this season. Um I I I don’t go away in the postseason. Still here every day. And also do not go away in the off season. Um still here five days a week even. Uh we go down to three days a week just in like the month of January when it’s like the true dead time of the off season. But um then once pitchers and catchers report in February again, we’re back to five. and uh all the way through winter meetings, we’re we’re at five. So, I’m not going anywhere. You all do as you please. This team has made us feel a lot of emotions this year, but we did it together. I appreciate you all so much for tuning in. I’ll catch you on the other side. I’m nervous as heck, but uh I’m with you in spirit, okay? We are we are people in arms here as a fan base. So, thanks for making us your first listen every day. Appreciate you all greatly. Peace and love. Going to therapy is dope. And I’ll catch you on Monday, baby. Go Tigers.

Today we discuss the Detroit Tigers 4-2 win over the Cleveland Guardians. We talk Troy Melton, Riley Greene, the Boston Red Sox and more!

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