GAME THREAD TIGERS/DODGERS

Where's our home opener thread? Can you tell I'm amped to get the season started?

Anyhow, I was thinking that in the '20 WS, we faced Tampa, and the pitcher that threw the third most innings against us was Ryan Yarbrough, whom we acquired later and he did a decent job filling that long-relief role in our bullpen.

The two Rays that pitched more innings than Yarbrough in that series start our first two games at DS five seasons later. Who would've thunk it?

 

Skubal had a great season last year enroute to his CYA. I hope Dodgers can get to him.

 

i expect the team to come out (no homo) completely flat in the opener, mirroring their clueless leader

 

I can totally see that, but I'm still giving Roberts whatever benefit of the doubt he earned from last year (until he loses it). Hoping that considering the final out of the WS was recorded in NY, then the two Cub games took place in Tokyo, and even the freeway series being in Anaheim, this is the first time the team will be playing in front of fans at DS... hopefully the energy will be crazy and keep them from playing flat. Really, we just need Snell to match Skobul and keep it close for the bullpens to take over.

 

Facing Flaherty on Friday. It's a shame knowing how much he wanted to stay on the team, but in the end there just wasn't room, which is a testament to how deep (as TB said, no homo) this rotation is. Perhaps if he didn't shit the bed in the playoffs, he'd still be here. I didn't realize just how bad he was - he surrendered 18 earned runs over the three series. And actually he has a career 5.36 postseason ERA, which is almost a run worse than Kershaw's (which we're all familiar with). That just doesn't cut it on this team. Good guy, but in the end, good riddance.

 

Current Dodgers that have faced Skobul have hit .194 against him. Current Tigers who've faced Snell have hit .172 off him. This could very well be a 1-0 game.

 

or 10-9

 

would never wish an injury on anyone
but if i were to do so…

https://bleacherreport.com/juan-soto-says-hes-best-mlb-hitter-ever

 

Best hitters ever don't play for four different teams by age 26. Best hitters ever are so coveted by their team, that the team does whatever is necessary to keep them.

 

Ohtani DH
Betts SS
T Hernández RF
Freeman 1B
Edman CF
Smith C
Muncy 3B
Rojas 2B
Pages LF

Snell SP

 

Let's do this!

 

Looking at the 26-man roster...

The only marginal players/surprises are Casparius, Garcia, and Jack Dreyer.

Casparius deserves to be there, until he proves otherwise. Glad to see he made the cut.

Dreyer - who??? I looked up his MILB stats and they're pretty solid. The 26 year-old pitched 14.2 scoreless innings for Tulsa last year, then in OKC (in a hitter-friendly league) he had a 2.95 ERA over 42.2 IP. Let's see if that success holds in the majors. He gave up two hits and a run in his one inning in the Tokyo series.

Luis Garcia. I'll be honest... I have no idea how he's on the team - or in the league for that matter - other than I think Davey always seems to want a charity-case on the roster whose career he thinks he can save (think Yohan Ramirez in '24). The one good thing as I previously noted is that his best seasons come in odd years (ERA in 2013: 3.73, 2015: 3.51, 2017: 2.64, 2019: 4.35, 2021: 3.24, 2023: 4.07). In even years, other than 2022, he's been atrocious (2014: 6.43, 2016: 6.46, 2018: 6.07, 2020: 7.56, 2022: 3.39, 2024: 4.88). However, even if 2025 follows suit and he has a good-by-his-standards year, the fact of the matter is that in twelve previous seasons he's been a fringe-at-best major leaguer. So I'll ask again, on a roster as stacked as this one, how's he on it? Hopefully he'll be used solely as the mop up guy in blowouts, but knowing Roberts, I bet not. Looking forward to Phillips, Kopech, or Graterol - or even Gonsolin - getting healthy and bumping this scrub off the team.

 

dreyer looked pretty good at times this spring iirc
vesia light

 

Good to know. Haven't seen him pitch yet. Sounds like he has the mental makeup.