Ryan Wiley

Kind of saw it with Finnegan tonight, doesn't matter how much break your splitter has if you can't get it to the bottom of the zone. Valverde when he was unhittable for that one season had splitters that were 6 inches below the zone. Location is everything for Mize

More on Mize: he's clearly dealing with some type of lagging injury and mechanics issue. If his splitter works he's an all-star. If it doesn't he's an average 4/5 rotational guy. He's been more than good enough to give his team chances to win even in pretty much every start

He's been a disappointment to his draft expectations, but you could do much worse for a 4/5 rotational guy that costs you $2.5mil/yr.

Also, pitching staff has wildly changed expectations. Vintage 2010s Tigers won a ton of games with quality starts. Even Verlander would have a game like this.

Don't really need Duran or Jax if your opponents can only score four runs max every game

Also people are mad at Harris for not shipping prospects at the deadline, but the only way the Tigers are going to lose the central are giving these cheap franchises free bats.

Not shocked that the Tigers would be okay in this game with a quality start from Mize

Also, we saw it so much last year for the Tigers. Bullpen games have a real psychological edge for the bullpen. Guys try swinging out of their shoes because they think they should beat you.

First few innings when the road team beats you to the ballpark after a late night game on the road is always tough.

Also almost every small town has local gentry, which owns the limited amount of housing on main street, turning it into a slumlord racket. It's not great!

Have you ever tried getting something to eat in rural America? Your options are Applebees and "random bar that double dips the fish and chips."

"Ana Kasparian spend a day in rural America one day" challenge

For example, my old HS, which generally saw a suburban boom during the early 2000s, made big investments in smart boards as they were going to be "the future." They were mostly used to play YouTube videos (something they already could do).

Reading books is pretty cheap!

I also find it really funny that they think "reading books" is going to be some type of class indicator in the future where parents are going to scramble to get private education.

Sure, it might be a status symbol, but "going slowly over text" is not a resource rich idea.

As a teenage who read classics, there is an inexhaustible supply of books, but no standard in education to teach you things like theory of literature or ideas like Realism, Modernism, post-modernism etc. to help you find them or really understand some of the broader concepts

Oh, and that's not before talking about the string of fathers doing an early checkout

The average experience of the 2008 financial crisis was going into Walmart only to see retirees become greeters because their retirement funds were wiped out. A house down the street ripped out all the countertops only to sell it back to the buyers a few years later.

The true center of the American psyche from foundation to present is a commitment to the idea that politicians couldn't say or believe horrible things out of a completely unsubstantiated belief that Americans in power are incapable of those ideas, and if they did there would be some uprising

Tigers really need to find a second guy beyond Vest to do leverage outings

Best way to beat Duran is to get five runs before the 9th!

Increasingly hate seeing SP go out there with 90+ pitches. Killed us with Flaherty giving up the hit last night. Tigers take advantage today

Might see the mythical fourth time through the order in this Skub start

Real big to break up the heart of the order too!

Absolutely got ripped off of a SB on a friendly challenge for Philly

Team is wayyyy better when our lefties hit for power

Good day for a strikeout career high for Skubal

Yes, they've gotten production despite their strikeouts

No one losing their mind about Tigers hitters being a bottom five team in terms of strikeouts (you know something that actually loses you games)

Truly an "oracle" of asking creepy questions to children and such gems as "so what's it like to be a 21-year-old girl?"

I find it really funny that a firing at BLS is what's causing the "America is doomed" discourse. If history is any recent reminder that's only going to supercharge "the economy is actually really really bad" discourse.

It started stupid. It's currently stupid. It's going to end stupid.

Kind of a fatal flaw of acquiring leverage guys at the deadline is they become virtually worthless if you can't get them into a position where you're ahead against the core of the opposing order. Tigers won a lot of games against CLE and MINN by getting a few against the starter and holding it