Tigers Beat Guardians! Detroit Advances to 2025 ALDS!

Tigers Beat Guardians! Detroit Advances to 2025 ALDS!

The Detroit Tigers have won a playoff series against the Cleveland Guardians. 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 am of course your host, Scott Bentley. Today is Friday, October 3rd, 2025. Thank you so much for making Locked On 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 single 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. Download the app today. The Detroit Tigers are advancing to the ALDS. I They win six to three at Progressive, eliminate the Cleveland Guardians. First off, it the only reason that I am not like screaming. I I I genuinely considered starting the show off by just hitting record and just screaming as loud as I possibly could. Um, but that would do bad things to your ears or your car speakers or whatever. And I’m, you know, looking out for for you. I guess I I am when the final out was made, I was really pumped up, right? And and it was it was, you know, rahrah, fist pumping. We’re, you know, happy, excited, jumping all over the place. Now, I I genuinely just feel like the weight of the world has been lifted off of this organization and this fan base’s shoulders. And we’ll talk about that a little bit more later, but I I I really hope that is the case for the players as much as it is the fan base. I can barely believe it. truly like the the Detroit Tigers won a playoff series in Cleveland. They have defeated the Guardians in a a series that I I mean the bar is so low, even of like semi remote importance. They have lost every opportunity given to them against Cleveland in any even remotely big spot for the better part of 10 years. the And look, it it wasn’t pretty, okay? They went one for 15 with Risp. Uh Will Vest tried to catch a ball with his face and there was a little guards ball, you know, magic there in the eighth inning that made you nervous. But but they did it. They they have now won a playoff series in consecutive years for the first time since 2012 and 2013. Jack Flity I thought was incredibly solid. The bullpen I thought was great. The offense went 5 for12 with runners in scoring position. I’m going to shed a tear. I am just so happy. A and really like I I really do think the word is relieved. I the last thing as a fan that I wanted to go into the off season looming over this organization was the biggest collapse of a division title in the history of the sport and then you turn around and immediately get eliminated by that very same team in the first round of the postseason. the dark just gloomy gross disgusting cloud that would have followed this organization for the entire winter. And I’m not saying this absolves everything either, okay? I want to make that abundantly clear. This doesn’t like make September okay or justify the collapse, right? But winning a playoff series over that team, winning a playoff series, period does give you a significantly different vibe going into this off season whenever it happens. And when you look back on this season, you have a significantly different vibe of it. It triggers a different emotion in your brain than if they would have lost this series. And I I I I’m trying really hard to not make it more than it is either. This is not the World Series. There is obviously still this is not the end goal, but just so badly I wanted them to win this series, man. Even if they lose three straight to Seattle by by 10 runs each game. Okay. I’m just glad it wasn’t Cleveland. It it feels like a like I said really all week like a monkey off the back situation. Um now from an in-game perspective like you you hope that the clutch hits can carry over right to get all the the emotional sappy you know overly dramatic Scott stuff out of the way. You hope that the clutch hits can carry over. They have been so bad with runners in scoring position for all of September and you are begging that to change and you need that to change if you want any remote chance of making a deeper run into the postseason. So five for 12. Obviously the seventh inning was really the big, you know, inning and and kind of broke the seal in that regard, but I I just thank goodness, man. Thank goodness. Thank goodness. Okay, let’s talk about what went right. I guess we can just start with the clutch hitting. Uh late in this ball game, I mean, I’ll be honest, it wasn’t exactly a a clutch hitting clinic. Okay, they they were one for five in the first six innings with runners in scoring position. It looked like a lot of same old same old. Then the seventh inning rolls around and the dam finally breaks. Okay, DAM, by the way, don’t believe me. the the floodgates finally open and they went four for seven with runners in scoring position after starting off one for five. Parker kind of starts it off with the bunt there. I I think in the future that honestly like I don’t get joy saying this. Okay, I’m not a huge bunt guy. Um I don’t mind the fact that the Tigers don’t bunt very often and bunt like some of the fewest in all of baseball. I know there are pe plenty of people that disagree with that. That’s fine. To each their own. Baseball can be played a million different ways. That’s why I think it’s beautiful. Um I I think Parker should be maybe the exception to that and should probably bunt more unless he just becomes like a 750 plus OPS hitter. Um, but I if if he is staying in the area that he is offensively, which has been not very productive, uh, really as of late, outside of like a threemon stretch there last season, I think that he has the speed to where, okay, if there’s a runner in scoring position and there’s less than two outs, you can kind of justify it a lot easier with him, especially if he’s not hitting leadoff, just because there’s a chance that he beats it out anyway. And that’s what started this. Um, Jav obviously had the double technically before that, but that was technically a Parker’s butt was a was a hit with wrist, believe it or not. And then you have Winsil Perez, man. He he had an awful day at the plate before that. Like legitimately, and that’s a microcosm of of the last month. He has had a brutal month. He went one for five, two strikeouts in like relatively big moments and had was it an inning ending double play with a runner on. Like he he did nothing. He popped up with two men in scoring position and only one out. Didn’t score a run. Had the double play like he did everything wrong at the plate. AJ didn’t pinch hit him. Hit him third and eventually it paid off. big guts from coaching and from management to ride that through and it worked out. Thank goodness. Um that’s the biggest hit of the postseason so far. I know it wasn’t technically the go-ahead, but you know it’s a one-run game against Cleveland. They ended up scoring two more runs. Having that two RBI single was I I think the biggest hit of the playoffs for Detroit up to this point. Just absolutely incredible. Spencer Torqulson and Riley Green both then shorten up their swings, get a couple of RBI singles after that as well. And next thing you know, the Tigers are up six to one. We’ll talk about some more individual performances. We’ll talk about the pitching which was fantastic in this ball game as well. And we will all breathe heavy sighs of relief on our Fridays here. We will do all of those things right after this. First though, got to talk to you all about our friends over at Prize Fix. This episode is brought to you by Prize Pix. Every day we make decisions based on or but on rather Prize Pick. Being right can actually get you paid. Don’t miss the excitement of this football season with Prize Pick where it’s good to be right. Playing prize picks is such a fun simple way to add more excitement to football season. and you just pick more or less on player projections like Josh Allen’s passing yards or Saquon Barkley rushing for a touchdown and you are in the game. I love how quick it is. You can make your lineup in under a minute. And they just added stacks as well. So if I want to ride a player, I can select their passing yards, rushing yards, and touchdowns all in one lineup. There’s so many cool features over there, including the injury reboot feature as well. So download the prize picks app today and use code lockdown MLB to get $50 in lineups after you play your first $5 lineup. That’s code lockdown MLB for $50 in lineups after your first $5 lineup prize picks. It’s good to be right. All right, everybody. Welcome back here. Segment two, Locked on Tigers. Appreciate you all for tuning in as always, making us your first listen every single day. Shout out to the everydayers that do tune in every day and we will of course be back on Monday recapping the first couple of games of the American League Divisional Series with your Detroit Tigers. We’ll be playing in I I really wish I was more like like fired up, but I I again I the biggest emotion I feel is genuine relief, dude. More than anything, I I’m so I’m sorry if this is like maybe an underwhelming emotion uh or or like an an underwhelming maybe reaction that you were hoping to hear from me on on a Friday morning or whenever you’re listening. But I I am I am just so relieved that they won this series. So relieved. And job is not finished, right? The goal is not to make the ALDS and beat a a Cleveland team that was below 500 for a majority of the season. Okay, that is not the bar. Now, it’s time to to put your big boy pants on and get back to playing winning baseball and go take on the Mariners. putting a bow on what went right in this series. However, before we preview that series against the Mariners, Riley Green two for five with no strikeouts, which is noteworthy at this point. Um, I I think the swing looked, this is how I’m going to describe it, okay? I think his swing looked noticeably like like genuinely noticeably less violent than it has over the last four to six weeks. And I think that you saw a direct impact in that today. Dylan Dingler, I thought he called a much better game. I want to start off with that. Um, only one earned run for Cleveland in this ball game. I also think that he didn’t call a very good game in game two, which I’m not even sure if I really talked about on air actually now that I think about it. Um, but there was a couple of pitch calls. specifically the the melton home run is just that that I don’t understand how that can possibly be that fast up and in the pitch call in that scenario. Um so I c think he called a much better game in this one. I think he’s called great games for majority of the year. He’s been struggling a little bit at the plate lately for a guy that was so consistent for a majority of the year or of the year rather. This was a huge home run. huge home run for not only the team. Obviously, you break the tie, you go up a run, but a huge kind of sigh of relief, I think, for him, too. It’s just the theme. I’ve said it a billion times. I’m sorry. You could play a drinking game out of how often I’ve said the expression already in the first half of the show. And and I apologize for that. I don’t want to be bad radio here, but like that that is just the feeling that I have across when I look at all of these moments. Win Perez weight off the shoulders. Okay. He’s been terrible lately. Dylan Dingler, weight off the shoulders. Spencer Tolson and Riley Green, some weight off the shoulders. Like I I I just I I And then the whole team winning and celebrating on pitchers mound at Progressive Field with a giant graphic that says, “Congratulations, Tigers on Cleveland’s scoreboard is is literally watching a demon being exercised.” Like like that is what it feels like. Sorry to the one listener who hates how I use the word literally. But that’s what it feels like. Javi, the MVP of this series is either Javier Bayz or Terk Scubble. Jav Bayz was phenomenal. Had a double in this game. Obviously led to a run being scored. Fantastic defense, including a huge play late. Also, just the tagging. I know that it’s such a weird thing that people get pissed off about because they’re like, “Oh, well, he’s a good tagger.” Okay, well that doesn’t make him like worth the money by itself. Obviously, that is true. He’s hitting .455 in the postseason. Obviously, that’s only three games, but he’s hitting 455. Some extra base hits in there. And that tag against J Ram is rally ending. That that is that is the moment, right? That is the moment where they review it. That tag is made. JR Ram is out and you go, “Oh my goodness, they actually are gonna do it.” Carrie Carpenter, what a weight off his shoulders. He goes one for two with three walks and faces a lefty multiple times. I could cry. Three walks while facing lefties. I’m not sure if that’s going to stay ruled a double. that hit he had early to score the Tigers first one run. But who cares? Steven Vote went to the bullpen early and went lefty because AJ played his righty starting lineup. And AJ 10 toes down did not budge, man. Did not pinch hit anybody. He said, “You know what? Riley Green staying in the game against the lefty. Carrie Carpenter staying in the game against a lefty. Parker Meadows even staying in the game against a lefty. I don’t care. this is the lineup that we’re going to have and and if who knows if the game’s close and there’s a situation late, maybe he manages it differently. But Carrie Carpenter thrived while getting a ton of different looks in this game and he deserves a ton of credit. 15 base runners, five for 12 with runners in scoring position. Thank goodness. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. The pitching was also fantastic I thought in this game. Four and two/3s, three hits, one earn run, two walks, four strikeouts from Flity. That’s a 193 erra. Now in the postseason, obviously just one start. Um I I I thought he was fantastic. The the fast ball was located very well. The curve ball was incredible. The slider I didn’t think was very effective. Um but he got a lot of chase on the curve and kind of just went to that. Now, when guessed correctly, and what I say that in terms in like the POV of the hitter, right? If if the hitter guesses correctly on it being a curveball, then you still get a lot of deep counts, right? You still get a lot of of 22 counts, 3-1 counts, 3-2 counts. And so, and that happened, right? Like he was at even he got pulled four and two/3. He was already at, you know, 75, 76 pitches or whatever it was. But he executed when he needed to. He made big pitches when he needed to. He hit his spots when necessary. And Hinch was able to go to the bullpen early. And you knew that both teams were going to go to the bullpen early. Okay. You weren’t going to You were going to make sure that a fresh arm was out there at all times in a winner go home elimination game. And I thought that AJ pulled the the plug at the perfect time. To be honest, I I completely agree with every bullpen decision he made in this ball game. Um except maybe Tommy Kanley, but like even then you had a five-run lead and the two runs were unearned. Like if Will Bass doesn’t catch a ball off his face, then it’s six to one. Perfect, perfect, perfect execution across the board. And that starts with Jack Flity. So tip of the cap to him. Even if the final box score doesn’t maybe look like some dominant performance, he did exactly what the team asked of him. The bullpen was stellar, which it just feels so good to say out loud. Kyle Finnegan, one and a third, perfect baseball. Tyler Holton, one inning, one hit, no runs, no walks, one strikeout. Tommy Kanley, only the one out recorded. Gave up two hits. Wasn’t great. Will Vest then comes in one and twothirds of perfect baseball. Fantastic. Fantastic. All four of those guys I just mentioned have a zero RA in the postseason. Two of the biggest differences from the first half of the season when the Tigers were winning a lot and had, you know, the best record in baseball for a large part of that first, you know, half to the second half that obviously went terribly was clutch hitting with runners in scoring position and the production of the bullpen. You could argue those were the two biggest factors and the two biggest differences. as I should say between those that you know pre-allar break and postallar break tigers that is what they desperately needed to return if they wanted to win in the postseason more than anything else more than production from misen flity more than you know pick one individual hitter Riley Green whatever to turn it around they needed those two things because that is what they were doing when they were winning handover fist in the first And they got both of those things finally in a winner go home game and that’s awesome. Let’s talk about what went wrong. Not too much though. We’re not going to sour the vibes here. Then we’ll talk stuff and we’ll preview this series against Seattle. We’ll do that right after this. First though, got to talk to you about our friends over at FanDuel. The NFL season is here and FanDuel has an offer you don’t want to miss. Right now, new customers can bet just $5 and get 300 in bonus bets if you win. That’s right. Pick a bet, put down five bucks, and if it hits, you’ll unlock $300 in bonus bets to use across the app. I love how FanDuel gives me so many ways to play. Like I always say, you know, you can build parlays, you can try player props, you can even follow live lines during ball games. It’s great. And there’s so many other great features on top of that as well. So whether you’re a casual fan or diving into the stats, FanDuel makes the game day experience so much better for you. So what are you waiting for? Visit fanuel.com to download the FanDuel app today and get started. All right, everybody. Welcome back your third and final segment on Tigers. Appreciate you all for tuning in as always. celebrating a wildcard round victory over the Cleveland Guardians in Cleveland. Um, what went wrong? Not going to hang too much on this, okay? Not going to spend too much time on what went wrong. This is a celebration. We’re all happy. We’re all thrilled. Um, but it is something I do every show and I’m going to stay true to that. Uh the risk in the first six innings was still terrible and it really felt like it was going to be another one of those days. Um it was there were a lot of rough at bats before the seal broke. I thought Torqulson had an absolutely horrid at bat with two men on and two out there early in the ball game. Zack McKinstry had a couple of really poor at bats. Wincil Perez I already talked about had like four you could argue three at least terrible at bats. Parker Meadows had a couple of really rough abs like this was not all sunshine and rainbows and they were just hitting out of the gate and it it ended up being you know a comfortable victory. So that’s something you still want to make sure is fixed and corrected going into this ALDS. Uh Glabber Torres I think continues to just be like it again it it to me it literally looks like he’s just trying to foul off pitches and then draw a walk every single time he steps in the batters box. It looks like he has zero intent of driving the baseball or or putting the ball in play and trying to get on base with his bat. Um and that’s really been kind of the case for most of the second half of the season. His numbers are pretty rough. So, didn’t see a whole lot that to change my opinion of that, but having him in the leadoff spot at least works the pitch count early in a ball game and that came to uh fruition and you got some value from that. So, not all bad, but certainly something I still want to point out. Tommy Kanley already mentioned wasn’t great. I thought the change up looked fine um but still gave up a couple of knocks. And then, yeah, obviously like the big one is still Will Vest taking a ball right to the kisser there. Um I I you know I actually think he fielded his position very well in this game and certainly all series. The JRAM play in game one, right? But that that one play is obviously brutal and it should have been a six to1 final instead of a six-3. But um alas, a win is a win is a win and we will gladly take it stuff. We’re just going to preview the ALDS that your Detroit Tigers are in fact a part of. Saturday is game one. Sunday is game two. Uh the format for home and road or for where they’re playing I should say is 221. So it’s going to be two in Seattle, game one and two in Seattle, game three and four if necessary in Detroit and then game five if necessary is back in Seattle. Um so at least one playoff game will be played in Kameria Park and that is absolutely awesome. For the second year in a row, we are getting playoff baseball in downtown Detroit. Um Seattle has been maybe the hottest team in baseball over the last three weeks of the season. Um more so than Cleveland, who you just took down. Uh they have a really talented roster. They have a really talented pitching staff. Not the best numbers in the world from this pitching staff. Um, and I I I say that from a point of like I expect so much out of them. Uh, they have just a a on paper it’s them at full health. Obviously, it’s them or the Phillies to me have the best rotation in all of baseball. And I I think they didn’t live up to that this year. I expected a lot more of them. Now, the talent is still there. And the Tigers offense has been putrid. So, they’re probably licking their chops a looking at how this Tigers lineup uh battled through three games against Cleveland’s pitching. They’re probably going, “Okay, this is a real opportunity for us.” Obviously, from Cleveland’s perspective, but if you’re looking at the numbers throughout the year, it’s it’s a it was a middle-ofthe-pack rotation in terms of like ERA and and just production. offense has been really solid this year. Top 10 offense pretty much across the board. You obviously got J-Rod. You got a couple of other guys that have just been fantastic this year. But the big story of this lineup is is obviously Cal Raleigh. Um having a historic season is going to be a top two MVP finisher. He’s either going to win it or be runner up to Aaron Judge because Aaron Judge had like an 1100 OPS. But this is a historic season. And it’s one of the great I mean honestly I I think it’s relatively fair to say that it’s the best offensive season by a catcher ever. Now he also didn’t allow a passed ball the entire season um and is pretty darn good behind the plate. So there is a legitimate argument this is one of the best single seasons by a catcher in the history of this sport. And that is what you’re going up against. you’re going up against a big thumper in the middle of that lineup, a switch hitter that has power from both sides, calls a really good game, is really good defensively behind the plate. Um, he’s he’s he’s a superstar. That’s not even including, you know, the guy in center field who also is a borderline superstar, if not an outright superstar. Like, this is a really talented team and they are better than you on paper. We don’t have to like beat around the bush or pretend like this Tigers roster is something that it’s not. Okay, th this Seattle roster is better than you on paper. So, I feel as though your best shot here is to use Scooville twice, win both of those games, and then hope you can just win one of the other three. Now, I it’s really easy for me to say that before game one, right? That that’s not a direct formula. That is not going to work out. There’s almost no chance that that is exactly what happens, right? But on paper going into it, that really does feel like the Tigers best route to victory is, okay, we’re going to throw Scooby twice, go two and 0 in those two games, and then we just got to go one for three in the rest of the series. Because of that, I’d imagine that game one is going to be an old friend and that old friend is going to be pitching chaos. It’s not going to be Mai. It’s not going to be Flity. Obviously, that would be like two and three days of rest. They’re not going to start in those games. Scooble, you could in theory on four days rest. Um, but the first three games are guaranteed anyways. And game two, Sunday, would be five days of rest. And then it would be five days of rest for him in game five if that were to happen. if you were to force a game five. So, I think honestly you just give him his five days rest, let him go in game two. If you can split the first two games in Seattle and then split the two games in Detroit without TK Scubble, you have home field. You split just split those two games, then you can throw TK for game five. That’s not like impossible to me. That that is honestly like that is that is the perfect scenario to be honest with you. Now they might get swept. Again, Seattle’s a better roster, but the the perfect scenario for how to use Terk Scubble in this series is one of the first two games on the road, neither of the home games, because you have homefield anyway, and you’re hoping you can just win one of those games and then in the winter go home game five if necessary. That is best case scenario for the Detroit Tigers. And that’s how it’s lined up. So you have that going for you at a minimum against a superior opponent on paper. Game one again hasn’t been announced. I would imagine it’s a pitching chaos. They’re certainly not going to start like Chris Paddock or you know if they do start Melton or Montero Kater obviously um then you know like that that would be like I would imagine a one time through the lineup thing maybe a three to four innings thing. Um, but I I think that that’s probably going to be matchup ball, especially with the day’s rest here on Friday before you play game one in Seattle. And then you’re hoping that Scubble can just go deep into the game and maybe save the bullpen a little bit in game two as well. I’m just so glad the Tigers are here. And I’ll I’ll end with this. Um, I I’m I’m so so glad no matter what happens that they have a seat at the table and they made it this far after a horrific September. This is where we wanted this team to be in June and July. We wanted them to be playing in the ALDS. And then the last month and a half really made that not a guarantee. And they’re here anyway. And as I’ve already stated, uh, this does not justify September. This does not absolve them of September. when we start off seasonason content, whenever that is, whenever th this Tiger season ends and we start talking, you know, the show goes into offseason mode, we’re going to be very critical of this team down the stretch. They deserve all of that criticism. Everybody top to bottom. AJ Harris, obviously all the players, but there’s four teams left in the American League and the Detroit Tigers are one of them. And all things considered, that’s where we wanted to be going into this season. Make it just one bad month of baseball. That’s my hope. And that and that’s kind of the the the mental like route that I I hope is kind of preached in the clubhouse from now until game one. Um like I I’ve been I’ve said it a million times this episode already the the weight off the shoulders thing. I I hope that the team and the players feel that as well. Um, I I I don’t know if it’ll happen that maybe they still are going to white knuckle it and they’re going to be tense and still nervous and still thinking about it, but my hope is that you just defeated the team you blew the historic lead to. You you you eliminated them on their home field, walk in your trap, take over your trap. You did it. You did it in Cleveland. Let that be an uh again like you you exercise some demons there and you not avenge the AL collapse. You you should still rightfully get criticism for it, but you get the monkey off your back a little bit and hopefully you can go back to playing that loose fun brand of baseball we saw for over half of this season when they were the best team in baseball for a majority of it. the first hundred games they were the best team in ball pretty consistently throughout. And I hope that that that is what happens because if that happens then you’re talking about a much different baseball team than we’ve seen over the last six weeks. A and and who knows what the limit is. You have a seat at the table. There are four teams left in the American League. You are one of them. Seattle on Saturday for game one. Let’s play some freaking baseball, baby. Thanks for making Lockdown Tigers your first listen every single day. Shout out to the every day that do tune in every day. And we will of course be back on Monday recapping the first two games from this series and obviously previewing them coming home in well actually we’ll probably save the preview for the off day, but we’ll be reviewing two games of the American League Divisional Series against the Seattle Mariners. No time has been announced yet at in my world as I record this on Thursday night. So, I’m sorry I can’t provide you with that, but Google is free for now. Peace and love. Going to therapy is dope. And I’ll catch you on Monday, baby. Go Tigers.

They did it.

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