The Tiger Beat: A Monday pause

The Tigers take a breather.

The Tigers had a bit of a rough series against the Rays over the weekend, losing two of three games to the Floridian team. The Tigers are off today, preparing to welcome the A’s in, but there’s still news to catch up on.

We’ve got an update on Casey Mize, who left Sunday’s game early; we look at the greatest strength the team has in the postseason race; and in non-Tigers news, Shohei Ohtani has a first for the Dodgers, and Justin Verlander has a second for children.

Let’s get into it.

Detroit Tigers News:

• If you were starting to panic over Casey Mize’s early exit on Sunday, unclasp your pearls for now.

• Pirates reliever Dennis Santana has been suspended for four games after taking a swing at a fan in Detroit .
• ESPN has ranked the biggest strengths for each contending team. Of the Tigers they said :

Skubal began the season with two so-so starts and lost both those games, but since then he’s 8-0 with a 1.58 ERA and an otherworldly strikeout-to-walk ratio of 107-to-8 — yes, that’s eight walks in his past 13 starts. The Tigers are 11-2 in those games, with the two losses a 10th-inning defeat and a 1-0 finish. When Skubal starts, the Tigers usually win.

Because of Skubal’s excellence, the Tigers rank third in the majors in rotation ERA. Still, that probably overrates their depth, as Hinch has been investing heavily in openers such as Brant Hurter and Tyler Holton of late, with only Skubal, Jack Flaherty and Casey Mize remaining on regular rotation. With Jackson Jobe done for the year with Tommy John surgery, Skubal’s importance ramps up even higher.

• Get those All-Star votes in, friends…

AL Central News:

• One Twins batter had the funniest strikeout of the season.

MLB News:

• In former-Tiger news, Justin Verlander and his wife Kate Upton had their second child this weekend, a son named Bellamy Brooks.
• Angels’ manager Ron Washington will step away from managing indefinitely for health concerns.
• The Red Sox couldn’t even bother to use a real human to interview for the baseball ops position . Hey, ChatGPT, what’s the most embarrassing org in baseball?
• Rafael Devers seemed to have a great time in his postgame interview after the Giants beat the Red Sox.
• Sammy Sosa made his first appearance at Wrigley Field in 20 years, and the crowd went predictably wild .
• The honeymoon period is definitely over between the A’s and Sacramento, if it ever actually began .
• Some surprise stat leaders in MLB right now.
• CB Bucknor continues to be one of the worst umpires in baseball .
• Shohei Ohtani has finally collected his first strikeout as a Dodger.