Hockey

Hartford Whalin’ – Hawks @ Canes, Games 52-54

By Andy Jonathan 855

See the source image VS

Records: Hawks 22-23-6 (50) Canes 34-10-7 (75)

Puck Drops: 6:00 Mon/Tues/Thurs

TV/Radio: NBCSN and WGN 720

Teuvo Time: Canes Country

 

The second to last stop on the Train to Vacationtime for the Hawks makes it’s final appearance down in Carolina this week for a threesome against the Canes. After dropping both games to the Panth last week, the Hawks have fallen down to sixth in the division sitting a mere 5 points ahead of the Scum who managed to pass the Jackets this weekend. The fact that the Wings are as bad as they are and might not get the lottery pick they so desperately need warms my cold, dark soul. I digress, however.

The Hurricanes currently reign atop whatever they call this division right now, sitting 2 points ahead of Tampa with a game in hand. They’ve been on fire lately, currently rocking a 10 game point streak (7-0-3) in that span. Nothing really has changed for them since the last time the Hawks clashed with them, as they pretty much stood pat at the trade deadline. It really didn’t matter, as even though they could’ve used another scorer the Canes continue to be top 3 in the league in CORSI for. They push the play at a more than solid 54% average, while at the same time have allowed the least amount of goals in the entire league. They’re top 10 in shot suppression and 2nd in the league in shots for behind the Panthers.

They’ve managed all of this with having James Reimer and Alex Nedeljkovic in net for the majority of the season, and credit where it’s due they’ve done a solid job of keeping the puck out of their own net. Having one of the better shot suppression defenses in front of them certainly doesn’t hurt, and now reinforcements have arrived in the form of Petr Mrazek who returned from the injured list earlier in April from surgery on his right thumb. He’s looked good in his return, only having one speedbump 3 starts ago against the Wings when they had one of their games when 80% of their shots go in. It will be interesting to see how Rod Brind’Amour handles the goalie workload going into the postseason. Nedeljkovic has been the better of the two between him and Reimer, and Mrazek has had plenty of time to knock off the ring rust by now.

On the scoring end of the sheet, the Canes do it from all directions. They have 7 players with 30 or more points, and Sebastian Aho has 52 of them. None of those 7 players is Our Sweet Boy Teuvo, as he’s missed over a month with a concussion served up to him by (sigh) Nikita Zadorov back in the February 19th tilt between the Canes and Hawks. If he’s back at full strength, odds are the Canes have a top tier scoring weapon on every line they roll out. Sounds a lot like the Hawks teams in 2010-2016, and it makes my eyes misty just watching them.

As for the Hawks, offensively everything looked pretty good in their last series against the Panthers. New toy Adam Gaudette has acclimated well to whatever offensive “system” it is that the Hawks run under Coach Smoothbrain, with 4 points in his first 3 games. Both Alex DeBrincat and Domanik Kubalik have the hot hand right now, with DeBrincat’s goal in the 2nd period against the Panthers standing out as a particularly good sign. Even Kirby Dach has looked less lost in the last few games.

On the defensive side, everything continues to be a dumpster fire floating down a river comprised of sewage and toxic waste. The man to man system the Hawks run simply does not work with the personnel back there. Multiple times in the Panthers series Zadorov chose not only the wrong forward to cover, but sometimes picked a player that wasn’t even on the ice or technically in the building.

Riley Stillman, fresh off signing that new paper, was directly responsible for at least 2 goals against with one terrible pass, and then giving up on the play completely when Gusev scored his second goal of the night in game 2. Why Bowman decided NOW that Stillman needed to be extended before the Hawks had seen him play a week’s worth of games is a mystery to all of us here at FFUD. The only potential positive might be that his extension pushes Zadorov off the bus, so…yay?

In net, both Kevin Lankinen and Malcom Subban continue to have a rough go of it thanks to the clown rodeo in front of them. Neither of them has been particularly offensive, but also neither has been able to steal the games that the Hawks would need them to steal to remain ahead of Detroit. Still no word if Colin Delia will get any of these final starts, but if he’s not up now I don’t realistically see that happening, when it absolutely should.

With 5 games left in the season, the Hawks should have dual goals in mind: to play the kids as much as possible and have nobody get hurt. To this end, giving DeBrincat and Kane shifts off should be considered a good idea as well as Gaudette taking more shifts in their stead. While it may seem like nothing matters anymore, it’s experience like this that will help the young players show that they’re ready to contribute next year and that they can handle the rigors of an NHL season. It’s not nearly as fun as winning games, but at this point it’s probably more important for the team as a whole.

Let’s Go Hawks

 

 

 

Baseball

Is This What You Call Improvement? – Cubs/Reds Series Review – Cubs Lose Series 6-8/3-2/12-13(F/10)

By Summer Corson 964

Tired of boring Cubs baseball? Well you were in luck, because this series had everything you could ever want and a bunch of crap you didn’t: benches-clearing brawls, pitchers collapsing, a 10-homer game, two injured players and no lack of offense.

Things were certainly less bleak this series compared to the last. Despite the Cubs losing two games, at least the bats weren’t dead and everyone was scoring. Our rotation, however, is genuinely atrocious, and the bullpen we have built up can only do so much when the starters dig a huge hole for them to climb out of. Additionally, this all came at the expense of Willson Contreras and Ian Happ, so you have to take the good with the bad.

Here are my observations from the games this weekend.

April 30, 2021
Cubs 6, Reds 8
WP: Miley (3-2) LP: Arrieta (3-3)
Box Score

The Cubs came out in front early in this one, but because Jake Arrieta (unironically the Cubs’ Best Starter) only lasted until the 4th inning, the Cubs ended up down 6-2. He gave up a homer, a single, another two-run homer and a walk in the 4th inning before getting pulled, and he had been unraveling the inning before as well. The Cubs wouldn’t be able to make it back on top, which became the story of two-thirds of this series: this team could always make it back to tie it but never get ahead.

At least Kyle Ryan With Two First Names could stop the bleeding! After yanking Arrieta, David Ross put him in and got the second out with a strikeout. Then Ryan gave up a single and a double to dig the hole deeper, 7-2. Justin Steele was next on the bullpen list who actually looked pretty good, putting up 5 (????) strikeouts through two innings to keep the Cubs in the game, despite the offense trying their best not to stay in this game. Dillon Maples also looked good, striking out three straight batters and getting another strikeout in the 8th to keep the Cubs in it.

Additionally, Willson Contreras exited the game in the 5th inning because of hamstring tightness. The Cubs can never have good things. Contreras avoided a stint on the 10-day IL, instead electing to take the rest of this series off (until the Sunday disaster, of course).

The Cubs finally started rallying back in the 7th thanks to the likes of Eric Sogard walking, Kris Bryant doubling to make it 8-3 and Baez RBI-ing to make it 8-4. The curse of RISP, however, came back to haunt the Cubs in the 9th inning when they blew a bases-loaded situation. David Bote walked up to the plate and it was his time to shine; remember that one time three years ago when he walk-off grand-slammed to win the game? That certainly didn’t happen here. He grounded out unimpressively to lose this game.

May 1, 2021
Cubs 3, Reds 2
WP: Brothers (1-0) LP: Castillo (1-3)
Box Score

If anyone is tired of watching Zach Davies give up runs, you’re certainly not alone. It’s what the baseball gods have decided we deserve to watch for doing something as stupid as trading Yu Darvish for nothing in return. Luckily, the baseball gods took pity on us and limited our suffering this game, as the Reds wouldn’t score past their two runs in the 1st inning.

After Davies’s double, single and sacrifice fly he gave up, the Cubs’ bats started heating up. Tony Wolters, the new new backup catcher when Contreras is out, was able to single. Then Davies tried to endear us Cubs fans by sacrifice bunting to score Nico Hoerner, and then went back to not endearing us when he loaded up the bases in the next inning.

Bote doubled in the 4th, getting the hit that he couldn’t get last game, and Jason Heyward was able to bat him in to tie up the game. In the bottom of that inning Davies once again gave up two singles and a walk, but the defense behind him was able to get things done, fielding any contact and keeping the Reds from scoring any more runs. The big news out of this game was the benches-clearing brawl started by low IQ individual Amir Garrett and Javy Baez, who was not too happy to watch Garrett get overly celebratory after striking out Anthony Rizzo. Lots of shouting and fighting ensued, including Javy flipping off Garrett live on national Marquee television.

The Reds had a myriad of highlight-reel defensive plays this game, from getting players out at the plate to making diving catches in the outfield that nobody has any business catching. The fact that the Cubs came out of this game with a win at all will hopefully be the start of some better baseball for this team.

Better baseball, you say?…

May 2, 2021
Cubs 12, Reds 13 (F/10)
WP: Hendrix (2-0) LP: Kimbrel (0-1)
Box Score

BUCKLE UP. This game was a tire fire the whole way through. And it was offensively explosive early and wouldn’t let up for 10 innings. In the first two pitches of the game, the Cubs set the tone by hitting two doubles to go up 1-0, but the Reds answered right back in the bottom of the inning to go up 2-1. Please also remember that Tony Wolters stole home in the 2nd inning and were it not from the Baseball Gods from On High in New York with their Secret Camera Angles that they will not release to anybody, this game would have been over in the 9th inning and we could have minimized the catastrophe that was the final few innings of this game.

Hometown Boy Trevor Williams was the starting pitcher, but by the time I’m writing this I had seen seven Cubs pitchers after him and his innings felt like they were worlds away. He was bad, though; really bad. But what pitcher wasn’t this game? The poor kid got pulled in the 3rd when he gave up three home runs in one inning, allowing the Reds to go up 6-4.

There was then a never-ending stream of bullpen pitchers being trotted out for the Cubs for the next seven innings. One of them was Keegan Thompson, making his Cubs and MLB debut. This is obviously a tough game to make your debut when the offense in both dugouts can’t stop hitting. Thompson threw a lot of balls and gave up a walk and a single but the defense behind him helped him get out of his first MLB inning without giving up any runs.

Alec Mills came in for a while, but he didn’t look as strong as he usually does, especially after hitting a guy, allowing a single, loading the bases, hitting Mike Moustakas and putting the Reds back in front. And then allowing a two-run single to make it 9-6 Reds. I think it’s probably okay to wipe the slate clean for every Cubs pitcher we saw, however, because of how weird this game was.

Who’s ready for injury? Thought the injuries would be over with this series? Think again. Hoerner and Ian Happ collided in the outfield in the 8th inning trying to catch a fly ball. Hoerner made the catch, the throw and the out while Happ was writhing on the ground in pain. After a ten-minute game delay, watching the poor guy stand up and immediately sit back down on the field and eventually get carted off the field, I knew nothing good could happen for the rest of the game. (Postgame, Ross said that Happ felt “fine, pretty good,” which I doubt, but there’s no word from team doctors yet about what’s up with him.)

By this point, Rossy had literally played everyone off the bench except for Contreras, who said he could play if absolutely necessary. And that’s exactly what happened. A defensive shuffle like no other ensued as Contreras put on his catcher’s gear, Tony Wolters went to second, Hoerner went to left field and Bryant went to center field.

Then it was time to watch Amir Garrett be the incredibly annoying man he is after striking out two Cubs and intentionally walking Hoerner, continuing to yell at people about how that’s what’s up. Hilarity ensued, however, when the Reds decided to pull him in exchange for Ryan Hendrix because the Cubs decided Jake Arrieta was next up to bat since 38 other people have pinch hit in this game. Arrieta struck out swinging, and in the bottom of the 10th Kimbrel’s passed ball and a Nick Castellanos single put us all out of our misery, with the Reds winning 13-12.

—

The Cubs are injured, now more injured than they were before. They are also exhausted, especially our bullpen. Things have been bad enough this season with none of our starters being able to get past the 7th inning, let alone to even still be pitching by the 7th inning. Now that seven (7) bullpen pitchers have played today, they will all be exhausted too.

And the best part about it all is that the schedule does not let up, oh no, that would be silly. The Cubs start a three-game series against the god damned Dodgers of all teams starting tomorrow. The Dodgers are 17-12 and no longer top of the NL West because the Giants are there, although the Giants have played two less games than the Dodgers so everything will right itself the way this league intended eventually. We will probably get crushed. See you then.

Hockey

The Mistakes Are Obvious, The Faults Are Glaring – Hawks Drop Games 50 & 51 vs Panthers (4-3OT, 5-4)

By Matt McClure 1125

Box Scores Game 50 Game 51
Event Summaries Game 50 Game 51
Natural Stat Trick Game 50 Game 51

As if the previous week and a half wasn’t enough to seal it from an intellectual and emotional standpoint, the Hawks losing both games to the Panthers this weekend has them on the brink of mathematical elimination as well, and are only spared by having scraped their way into OT on Thursday with the net empty. But if nothing else, these two games were ideal outcomes – some kids put more on tape (for both good and bad), and the glaring flaws both behind the bench and with the roster are also put on a display in a competitive game against an obviously better team that they lose. Obviously wins are more fun, but when the process matches the results. This team cannot afford to risk learning the wrong lessons with the complete dope behind the bench they’ve got currently.

Baseball

Bad Times Ahead – Cubs/Braves Series Review: Cubs Lose Series 3-1

By Summer Corson 815

Well, it’s official: the Cubs are at the bottom of the division standings. Of course, the NL Central is so bad that that doesn’t really mean much, still putting them “only” 4 games back of the leading Brewers, but it’s still not good nevertheless. Our offense is still inconsistent, our pitching still sucks, and because of that we keep losing blowout games. Let’s go over what happened this week.

April 26, 2021
Cubs 7, Braves 8
WP: Morton (2-1) LP: Workman (0-2)
Box Score

Well, I predicted this game was gonna be a bit dicey, and that’s exactly what happened. The Cubs, though getting close offensively, never led this game, and the Braves were able to hold through for the win.

Speaking of dicey, Zach Davies (9.47 ERA) had yet another bad start, and Cubs fans’ patience with him is really starting to wear thin, especially considering we traded away Yu Darvish (2.27 ERA) to get this joker. It takes a special kind of pitcher to allow the other team to go up 4-0 on nothing but walks, doubles and singles, but here we are. The Cubs are a team who has convinced absolutely nobody about their offensive abilities, and they would never come out ahead after this 1st inning.

Speaking of offensive abilities, Javier Baez sat out this game because of hamstring soreness, meaning Nico Hoerner started at short and a FUN mixture of David Bote and Eric Sogard started at 2nd. These two guys have .189 and .231 batting averages, respectively, and combined for 0 hits on the day.

The Cubs were actually able to tie things up in the 3rd inning, as Kris Bryant is officially Not Injured and therefore Back as the best player on this team. He hit a grand slam to tie it up, after two singles from Davies and Hoerner and a walk from Anthony Rizzo. However, in the bottom of the 3rd the Braves got a home run of their own off Davies to retake the lead, and they’d never give it back.

By the 4th inning it was time to bring out the bullpen, which means nothing but pain and suffering defensively for the Cubs. After Davies walked two batters, Dillon Maples came out and got out of that inning with minimal issues. Replacing him in the 5th, however, was Brandon Workman, who was not working at all. After a double, a Willson Contreras passed ball, a walk and a home run, it suddenly became 8-5 Braves.

The Cubs staged a mini-comeback in the 7th after a walk and a Contreras home run to make it 8-7, but the Braves ended up closing out the inning leaving two Cubs on base. The game was pretty much shut down after that.

April 27, 2021
Cubs 0, Braves 5
WP: Anderson (2-0) LP: Williams (2-2)
Box Score

Baez sits for the second straight game, and even more concerning is that Kris Bryant is sitting, too. Apparently his arm’s been bothering him since he played in 30-degree weather. Who could’ve guessed that without him the Cubs offense would suffer this season?

Hometown Boy Trevor Williams started this game, and honestly did pretty well on the mound. He tied his career-high by striking out 8 batters this game and kept the game scoreless for 4 innings. It’s just too bad the Cubs offense couldn’t help him out; he ended up getting the loss after allowing a solo home run, a walk and a double to score Freddie Freeman.

The Cubs offense was atrocious, getting only 2 hits all game (from Hoerner and Jake Marisnick, of course) and striking out 13 times, putting them one shy of their season-high. The Cubs also only had one walk and left 6 runners on base all game. We watched a slew of bullpen pitchers throw some innings, yet only Workman gave up runs, again — three in 0.3 innings to lose the game. He now has a 6.75 ERA and I’d much rather enjoy never seeing him pitch again.

April 28, 2021
Cubs 0, Braves 10
WP: Ynoa (2-1) LP: Hendricks (1-3)
Box Score

If you thought things couldn’t get any worse, they certainly can. Kyle Hendricks, supposedly our #1 ace out of the bullpen, still sucks out loud. He only played 3.2 innings, and yet during that time he gave up 11 hits and 7 runs (3 of them home runs) for an atrocious 7.54 ERA. Alec Mills came in to relieve him and he was similarly bad, allowing 5 hits for 3 runs (two of them homers), and only being able to strike out two batters in 2.1 innings.

After being down 10-0 in the 6th, clown world ensued as David Ross decided his bullpen is so bad that he’d might as well allow position players to pitch for no god damn reason. Rizzo and Duffy split an inning pitching, whereas Sogard got an inning all his own. What used to be an amusing time to watch Rizzo on the mound very quickly just became annoying and seemingly so ridiculous. Even more ridiculous were the quotes at the end of the game, saying it helped lighten the mood. But the mood shouldn’t be lightened because the team sucks, and somebody needs to do something about it and act like everyone’s jobs are on the line as a fire sale is imminent at the trade deadline.

But at least he struck out Freddie Freeman!!!

Meanwhile, only 5 hits were made all game for the Cubs, and a staggering 13 runners were left on base. 11 strikeouts happened, led by David Bote who struck out three of his four at-bats. Matt Duffy, who played in four different infield positions today, was one of only five Cubs batters to NOT strike out this game, adding onto that a hit and two walks. Bryant also had a better game, leading the team with two hits and being left on base three times. God save us.

April 29, 2021
Cubs 9, Braves 3
WP: Alzolay (1-2) LP: Wilson (1-2)
Box Score

The fact of the matter was the Cubs had to win sometime. This time it happened to be against a pitcher at the bottom of the Braves’ rotation with a 5.00 ERA, but a win is a win, especially for this team.

Javier Baez is finally back, just in time to snag a hit, a run, an RBI and NO strikeouts! He was able to RBI in Duffy and get Bryant to third base in the 3rd inning to put the Cubs up 3-0. With Jason Heyward singling to score Bryant after, the Braves didn’t stand a chance of coming back.

The Cubs did all this mostly with contact hitting on the ground. There were singles and doubles galore for the Cubs this game, and Marisnick got the only home run for the Cubs, scoring only himself. Don’t look now, but Marisnick’s batting average and OPS are third best on the team, behind only Hoerner and Bryant. His sample size is a little smaller, but I’d still like to see more, please.

Finally Adbert Alzolay has a good outing. He was able to pitch 6 innings, his highest of his four starts this season, and only allowed 4 hits and 2 runs. He only walked one guy and struck out six batters for a 4.71 ERA. (This is good for the Cubs rotation nowadays.) The bullpen stood behind him pretty well, as Tepera, Chafin, Megill and Kimbrel combined to only allow three hits and one run as the defense was able to stand tall behind them.

—

At least this series was ended on a positive note, but there’s still not a lot to like here. The offense is maddeningly inconsistent, and when it’s off, it’s awful to watch. Legitimately horrendous baseball. I’m not sure how it gets fixed. You shouldn’t be relying so heavily on a utility guy for hits, but that’s where we are right now with Marisnick.

Anyway, the Cubs are playing the Reds this weekend, the second-to-last team in the conference. The Reds just came off a series against the Dodgers in which they actually won, impressively. However, on Wednesday the Dodgers did beat them 8-0. The Cardinals and Diamondbacks have also walloped on them too in past series. It’s the battle of the bad teams; let’s see who comes out on top.

Hockey

Swamp Things – Panthers @ Blackhawks, Games 50 & 51

By Andy Jonathan 873

VS.

 

Records: Panthers 32-74-5 (69) (Nice) Hawks 22-22-5 (49)

Puck Drop: 7:00 Thurs/Sat

TV/Radio: NBCSN / WGN720

Mouth Of The South: Litter Box Cats

 

Welp. We’ve reached the point of the season that seemed unthinkable 6 weeks ago, yet suddenly seemed inevitable 3 weeks later. The Hawks are all but eliminated from playoff contention, and now will be looking with an eye to the horizon to next season and beyond. The next few weeks, however, will be without the services of Adam Boqvist who had his wrist broken in a collision with human meat tree Erik Cernak in the loss to Tampa on Tuesday night. As former maven of the program Sam Fels pointed out on twitter:

While this is not a great development, Boqvist made progress enough this season and his loss should be the gain of people like Ian Mitchell, Nicholas Beaudin and Riley Stillman. Playing time should be plentiful for all of the younger players here on out, as the Hawks need to decide which of these guys will be pieces for future playoff runs. In a perfect world, these tryouts would also include Nikita Zadorov being stapled to a recliner in the press box, but I doubt we will be so lucky.

As for the Swamp Cats, they currently sit one point ahead of the Bolts for 2nd in the division with Tampa having 2 games in hand. The Panth have managed to go 6-3-1 in their last 10, despite losing their best defenceman in Aaron Ekblad to a fairly disgusting-looking knee injury approximately a month ago.

In response, Panthers GM Bill Zito went out and got Brandon Montour from Buffalo for a middling return (which seems to be the motto of the Buffalo Sabres front office). On the surface, Montour doesn’t seem like he would be able to fill the gaping hole left by Ekblad, but Montour’s numbers are probably better than you’d think. He’s racked up 6 goals and 9 assists, and played solid defense on the PK to boot on an absolutely moribund Sabers team. He’s not Ekblad, but with the way the rest of the D has been playing he doesn’t have to be.

On the forward end, Aleksander Barkov and Jonathan Huberdeau continue to punch a hole in the universe offensively with 18 points between the two of them in the last 5 games alone. They score at evens, they score on the powerplay, and they score shorthanded. The team as a whole has scored 36 goals in the last 10, and have owned the possession edge at a 54% clip up to this point. They push the play up the ice like it was tilted at a 45 degree angle, and will put constant pressure on opposing defenders in their own zone, which we know the Hawks don’t handle well at all.

In net, the Panthers big acquisition of Sergi Bobrovsky has very slowly started to pay off the last month. After a terrible January and February, Bob has gotten his save percentage above .900 and his goals against below 3. That being said, he’s had a couple rough outings against Nashville this week which didn’t help his case to keep those numbers there. He’s had issues with his groin in the past, and seems to be having difficulty going post to post this season, which Kane and DeBrincat could definitely take advantage of.

In the Hawks net, Kevin Lankinen seems to be running on empty as evidenced by his getting yanked before the 2nd period Tuesday night against the Bolts after giving up 3 in the first. Unfortunately Malcom Suban didn’t fare much better, as the Bolts dropped 4 on him in the 2nd and 3rd combined. It’s probably a toss-up as to who gets the starts here on out, but it wouldn’t be the worst idea to give a few of them to Colin Delia. With the possibility of Subban being sniped by Seattle in the expansion draft, Delia’s services may be needed going forward unless Stan has an idea of maybe signing a 1A to have Lankinen’s back next year. Perhaps someone along the lines of a Devan Dubnyk or James Reimer could fit the bill if the price was right. Though these games don’t statistically matter for the Hawks anymore, they will go a long way to see how Coach Smoothbrain handles giving playing time to audition the kids for next year.

At the end of the day, while expectations for the Hawks this season were low, we allowed ourselves to feel a little hope and were inevitably let down by this team’s inability to win a game with any type of playoff implications. We’re back to square one, waiting to see what some of these admittedly intriguing pieces might be able to bring to the table. While it’s enough to pique my interest, it’s just not what it could’ve been…and that kinda sucks.

Let’s Go Hawks?

Hockey

High Pressure Low – Game 49 Recap – Bolts 7, Hawks 4

By Matt McClure 1176

Box Score
Event Summary
Natural Stat Trick

Look, the Tampa Bay Lightning are a far superior team to the Chicago Blackhawks. There is little debate about that. And looking at the box score, it would appear that the Hawks put up a valiant fight despite being hopelessly outgunned even if Kucherov and Stamkos didn’t play. But that would be the incorrect conclusion to draw, and once again a pants shitting was on display from top to bottom given how the game actually played out and the circumstances in the standings surrounding it. In the end, however, water finds its own level and this was yet another shining example of just how far away from being actually competitive the Hawks are, no matter how FUN they were for 10 minutes two months ago.

Hockey

Up To Nothing – Lightning vs Hawks Game 49 Preview

By Matt McClure 1155

vs

Game Time: 7:00 PM
TV/Radio: NBC Sports Chicago+, WGN-AM 720
Touchdown Tom: Raw Charge

It seems fitting that the Hawks and Bolts will close out their season series exactly where it was projected that both teams would, with Tampa able to clinch their playoff berth with a victory of any kind tonight, and the Hawks all but mathematically eliminated, could very well be a mere 2 points away from doing so by night’s end depending on the results of the Stars and Preds’ games, who are both in action against the Canes and Cats respectively.

Baseball

Series Preview: Tigers at White Sox – The Up And Uppercut

By Andy Jonathan 1108

See the source image VS.

Records: Tigers 7-16 / White Sox 12-9

First Pitch: 7:10 Tues-Thurs

TV/Radio: NBCSN and ESPN1000

TIGER UPPERCT! – Bless You Boys

 

Probable Starters

Game 1: Jose Ureña (0-3 4.57 ERA) vs. Lucas Giolito (1-1 5.79 ERA)

Game 2: Casey Mize (1-2 5.23 ERA) vs. Carlos Rodon (3-0 0.47 ERA)

Game 3: Matthew Boyd (2-2 1.82 ERA) vs. Dylan “Sigh” Cease (0-0 4.15 ERA)

 

I don’t hate the Tigers anymore. I really used to, back in the early part of the 2010s. Much like my hatred for the Vancouver Canucks and Red Wings in hockey it’s just sort of fizzled out, leaving behind a feeling of indifference bordering on pity (probably how a lot of other teams felt about the Sox in the late 2010s and how everybody feels about the Hawks now).

A lot of this stems from how MLB teams run their franchises these days. The first time I ever went to Comerica Park in Detroit (beautiful field, BTW. If you can make it up there, you should), the Tigers were playing the Indians and both teams were hell bent on racing to 100 losses that season. The highlight of the game was my buddies and I setting the over/under for total number of errors in the game at 4, and them blowing by it with 9.

A few years later and both teams were in the postseason and the Tigers lost to the Giants in the World Series. Then everyone aged out for Detroit and it was back down the other side of the hill for them. They’re currently at the bottom right side of the dip in their bell curve, waiting to climb on up. There are a lot of solid pieces on this team that just need the major league experience to take that next step.

The biggest part of this for the Tigers is their pitching staff, which in the next few years could rival Cleveland for youth and skill. Tigers GM Al Avila (despite looking like a used car salesman who moonlights as a gameshow host) has done well for himself by compiling a trio of starters with massive upside in Casey Mize, Tarik Skubal and Matt Manning. All three of which have the potential to dominate AL Central hitting for the next decade.

The thing the Tigers are missing at this point is position players. After Spencer Torkelson (now THAT’S a baseball name) and Daz Cameron there isn’t much in the pipeline that will be up in the next year or so unless they make a huge leap from A ball. As for who’s currently on the roster now that could be a piece of that future, Jeimer Candelario and Victor Reyes seem like they could be + players. Candelario arrived from the Cubs in 2017 along with Isaac Paredes for Justin Wilson and Alex Avila. He was essentially handed the starting job at 3rd base from then on, mostly because the Tigers didn’t have any other options. He made a breakthrough last season, slashing .297/.369/.872 and a 136 wRC+ rating. He’s decent enough in the field, and will most likely have to stick at 3B because while Torkelson plays there, long term he profiles (much like our own Andrew Vaughn) as a 1B/DH type.

Another potential piece for the Tigers who mirrors the exciting story of Yermin Mercedes on the South Side is Akil Baddoo. A highly regarded high school player from Georgia, Akil Baddoo, was a 2nd round selection by the Twins in the 2016 draft. With the Twins stacked with OF prospects like Alex Kirilloff, they exposed Baddoo in the Rule 5 draft  last year and the Tigers snatched him up.

He forced his way onto the roster this year with a scorching spring training, then smoked a home run on the first ever pitch he saw in the major leagues. He then went on to hit a grand slam a day later, and walked the team off in the 9th with a pinch hit single after that. Things have gotten a little more difficult since that first week, but he’s still hitting .260 with 4 dingers and 19 batted in. Odds are he’ll end up in a platoon with his difficulty hitting left handed pitching, but he’s the kind of breakout guy the Tigers need to progress to that next level.

As for the Sox, after their sweep of the Texas Rangers this past weekend they’re looking to go on a nice dash this homestand before they have to hit the road again next week. The Tigers present the perfect opportunity to do that, as their young pitching staff has hit a bump in the road early on this season. Casey Mize has had trouble with the long ball, and Jose Ureña has had difficulty with walks in his first few starts. Both stats are the type that the White Sox hitters easily capitalize on, as walks and dingers are kind of their thing. The 3rd projected starter for the Tigers is currently their most successful one, Matthew Boyd. With a 2-2 record and a sub 2 ERA he’s been able to keep the ball in the yard and on the ground, which has eluded him in the past few seasons. The one thing working against him this series is the fact that he’s left handed, and the Sox penchant for skulling left handed pitchers is well known.

The wind is going to be blowing tonight, and the weather warm. The Sox bats are heating up, with 27 runs in their last 4 starts. In that span Jose Abreu has 3 dingers and 6 of his 17 RBIs on the season. Yoan Moncada and Luis Robert are coming around as well, with Moncada raising his average from .180 9 days ago to .258 now. He’s driving the ball to all fields, and knocked out an oppo dinger in game 1 against the Rangers. It will be interesting to see how LaRussa uses Kopech this series, as if Cease is unable yet again to get out of the 4th inning, he realistically could step in especially with Lance Lynn rumored to return on Friday night against Cleveland.

The hitting is there, the pitching is there (minus Dylan Cease on Thursday) and the time is ripe for the Sox to go on a tear and take the top of the division away from the stupid Royals, who nobody believes are going to be able to stay there anyways. The table is set perfectly, all the pieces in place…just need to take advantage of it.

Let’s Go Sox

Everything Else Hockey

Happy Trails Mutt, Get Lost Pierre – Andrew Shaw Mercifully Retires, NBC Withdraws From Negotiations

By Matt McClure 1030

In a move that should surprise no one, Andrew Shaw called it a career at the age of 29 earlier this morning, in a move that sadly is probably a couple years overdue. After having suffeded his third major concussion in 4 years, the message of doctors finally sunk into that thick cocker spaniel skull of his, and it’s the right move for his long term health and for his young family.

Shaw arrived on the scene in the first half of the 2011-12 season as a Rockford callup who had put his time in as a fifth round pick, and immediately endeared himself to the large swath of meatball Hawk fans with a goal and a fight right away in Game 1. And while his cement head antics would keep him front and center and often detract from the team – he was always an overzealous offensive zone penalty waiting to happen – the fact of the matter is that he could contribute on all four lines, and was instrumental as a depth piece on two different cup runs, playing the style of playoff hockey that every team needs to get 16 wins, with his two famous OT contributions of the I Love Shinpads goal, and the headbutt goal that was disallowed. Of course, that same rambunctiousness led to suspensions for plowing into Mike Smith (which really, who hasn’t wanted to do?), and having a Heated Gaming Moment in throwing out a homophobic slur in 2016, which is truly a black mark on his and hockey’s reputation. To his credit, however, Shaw seemed to be truly regretful of using it, and sought to make amends by speaking with then-Hawks reporter and openly gay man Chris Hine as well as putting plenty of effort into the league’s You Can Play Initiative.

Shaw was traded to Montreal in the off season following the latter incident, and in return the Hawks received the pick they’d use to select Alex DeBrincat, so that was truly a case of the Hawks winning a trade, even if they did what they always do which is trade back for and/or re-sign players that have been here before. In his second stint over the past two years, Shaw has only played 40 total games over two interrupted seasons, and he’ll end his career having played 544 games with 247 points. It’s just unfortunate that the same style of face-first play that was the only way for him to make it to the league and stick here will ultimately be what ends his career before 30. But this is the right move for everyone involved, regardless of whether this is an actual retirement with paperwork submitted, or another LTIRetirement, which remains to be seen.

In other news today, according to many reputable sources such as Elliotte Friedman and Uncle Bob Mackenzie, NBC is pulling out of negotiations for the rights to the other half of the NHL’s American national TV package after ESPN rejoined the party a couple months ago. With NBC folding their national sports outlet NBCSN likely in an effort to push more people towards their subscription streaming service Peacock, and with ESPN paying what NBC did in the last contract negotiations for half the games, it likely seems like NBC did some cost/benefit analysis here and cut bait. And while Fox and its national network Fox Sports 1 were thought to be the other frontrunner involved, it appears to be Turner sports, whose NBA coverage on TNT is the industry standard for sports coverage both in their studio show and gameday production, and whose MLB coverage on TBS is lukewarm at best. There’s nothing concrete about anything yet with no official announcements being made, but it would stand to reason that plenty of NBC’s analysts are now going to be looking for new homes, and it would go a long way for Turner to endear itself to the hockey consuming public to bring on some of the youngish and diverse faces at NBC like our gorgeous boy Patrick Sharp and Anson Carter, but also by telling Regis “Pierre” McGuire to finally go do one, as there is literally no one (the audience, the players, his co-workers) who can stand his bullshit, but time will tell. Or just Ernie, Kenny, Chuck, and Shaq do the NHL show too.