The Detroit Tigers flipped a switch and turned into the hottest team down the final stretch of the regular season that got them into the playoffs for the first time since 2014. They kept that momentum in the Wild Card round by sweeping the Houston Astros and ending their American League record of seven straight ALCS appearances.
But, when facing a Cleveland Guardians team who has been one of the best teams in the league all season long without their ace Tarik Skubal going in Game 1, there were some questions if they would be able to keep that magic going.
Since manager A.J. Hinch went with an opener to close out the Wild Card matchup, he had some options within his starting rotation to choose from, but he opted to go back to the reliever strategy to begin the game.
That completely backfired.
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Tyler Holton was shelled for three runs on two hits, failing to record an out before getting pulled from his outing.
Hinch called upon starter Reese Olson to come out of the bullpen, and even though he gave up the three-run homer to Lance Thomas that made it 5-0 immediately when taking the mound, the right-hander settled in after that to throw five innings where he gave up just three hits and was credited with one earned run.
Should the Tigers skipper just have gone with Olson to start the game?
Perhaps.
It’s hard to argue with what Hinch has been doing since he’s pushed all the right buttons coming into this ALDS matchup, but after everything reset and there was time for Detroit to put together a strategy, throwing one of their two available starters might have been the better idea than going with yet another bullpen game.
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Of course hindsight is 20/20, but it’s clear the Guardians were ready to jump all over Holton in this situation, and once Olson overcame the foreign role of coming out of the bullpen, he was able to pitch a relative gem that could have come from opening pitch.
Hinch was never going to shy away from doing things that has gotten his team to this point, but that mindset might have also hurt the Tigers in Game 1.
They now face an uphill battle as they look to advance to the Championship Series.
Greg Landry, the former Detroit Lions quarterback and assistant coach, has died. He was 77.
The Lions announced Landry’s death on social media Friday. No cause of death was given.
“We join the NFL community in mourning the loss of former Lions quarterback and coach Greg Landry,” the team said in its posting.
Landry played in the NFL from 1968 to 1981 with the Lions and then-Baltimore Colts. After two seasons in the USFL, he returned to the NFL and played one game with the Chicago Bears. He threw for 16,052 yards in his NFL career with 98 touchdowns and 103 interceptions. He was also one of the best running quarterbacks in NFL history, gaining more than 2,600 yards with 21 TDs.
The Lions selected Landry with the 11th pick of the 1968 NFL draft out of Massachusetts. He played 11 seasons with the Lions, and had a career record of 40-41-3 with Detroit. His finest season in Detroit came in 1971, when the threw for 2,237 yards and 16 touchdowns and was a first-team All-Pro and made his only Pro Bowl.
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In 1976, he earned the NFL’s Comeback Player of the Year award after passing for 2,191 yards and 17 TDs.
Landry was traded to Baltimore and played three seasons with the Colts, going 3-10-1. He then moved to the USFL and played one season each with the Chicago Blitz (1983) and the Arizona Wranglers (1984). He was an emergency starter for the Bears — against Detroit — in 1984.
Landry rejoined the Lions in 1995 as quarterbacks coach on the staff of head coach Wayne Fontes. Landry also held assistant coaching positions with Cleveland and Chicago in the NFL and at the college level at Illinois.
From Nashua, New Hampshire, Landry led UMass in passing for three seasons and was the team’s top rusher and scorer in 1965 and 1967. He was inducted into the UMass Hall of Fame in 1980.
Cade Cunningham is entering his fourth season in the NBA.
The Detroit Pistons star is coming off a year where he averaged 22.7 points, 4.3 rebounds and 7.5 assists per contest while shooting 44.9% from the field and 35.5% from the three-point range in 62 games.
On Friday, he made a post to Instagram that had over 37,000 likes in four hours.
Cunningham captioned his post: “Year 4”
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There were over 500 comments, and several of his Pistons teammates left messages.
Isaiah Stewart: “Go Ham 👊🏾💯”
Malik Beasley: “Duce !!!”
Wendell Moore: “💫💫”
Tobias Harris: “‼️‼️‼️‼️”
Cade Cunningham’s Instagram Post / October 4
Cunningham is the most important player on the Pistons, so fans will likely love seeing his teammates supporting him on social media.
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He was the first pick in the 2021 NBA Draft out of Oklahoma State.
His career averages are 20.0 points, 5.0 rebounds, 6.5 assists and 1.0 steals per contest while shooting 43.2% from the field and 32.9% from the three-point range in 138 games.
The 23-year-old has yet to appear in an NBA playoff game.
The Pistons will play their first preseason game on Sunday when they face off against Damian Lillard and the Milwaukee Bucks.
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They will open up the regular season on October 23 when they visit Pascal Siakam and the Indiana Pacers.
The Pistons finished last season as the 15th seed in the Eastern Conference with a 14-68 record.
They have been unable to make the NBA playoffs since the 2019 season when Blake Griffin was still on the roster.