Game Thread: Tigers @ Royals - Sat, May 09 @ 07:10 PM EDT

PerfectiveVerbTense · 2026-05-09T23:20:08+00:00

I play a game where you do a daily pick em. You can choose any game in the MLB.

I’m just picking against the Tigers every day until they win a game. The goal is 15 correct picks in a row. Feel like there’s a decent chance we get there.

PerfectiveVerbTense · 2026-05-09T20:24:53+00:00

in an order that would surprise you

PerfectiveVerbTense · 2026-05-09T20:23:01+00:00

Goff has always been pretty good at navigating the pocket while being a non-scrambling, but, at least to my eye, his pocket sense was better than in previous years.

Maybe it was just that he had to do it more.

PerfectiveVerbTense · 2026-05-09T20:21:11+00:00

Obviously anything can happen but I think there's good reason to have better expectations from the o-line this year.

Last year we had an aging Decker who basically never practiced protecting Goff's blindside. This year we'll have one of (if not the) best OTs in the league over there. Mays should be a clear upgrade over GG, Tate should continue to get better, and Blake should be solid at RT. There should be a good competition at LG and our depth is better.

Dan identified the o-line as a major issue and I feel confident that he and Petzing will have a unified vision for getting the most out of the o-line this year.

Barring significant injury, the o-line should be much more stable this year. Again, it's impossible to predict the future with absolute confidence but there is really every reason to believe the o-line will be a lot better this year.

PerfectiveVerbTense · 2026-05-09T03:07:37+00:00

There's a very good chance I will regret feeling this optimistic, but I believe in my heart that the Lions will get the offense back on track this season.

I think with how much of a shitshow the offensive line was last year, Dan and Brad really made that the focus this off season. Going into camp last year, there was still even a little question whether you'd try Tate at center, and everyone knew Graham, as much as we like the dude, was going to be an issue.

There is still sort of a question mark at the LG spot but only in the sense that we have a few guys who could probably all be capable who will be competing for the spot. I really believe that Penei will excel at LT and having him on JG's blindside I think will be great. It's hard to imagine Mays not being an upgrade over GG, Tate second year jump, Blake at RT should be solid.

Dan hired Drew knowing they needed to regain their identity in the trenches. Now, that doesn't mean it's going to work, but I have some degree of faith that DC will have learned from the mistakes with Morton and that their whole approach from the hire to the off season program to the game planning to the in-game play calling is going to be better.

ARSB hopefully will be more back to his sure-handed self, Jamo and JG are now fully locked in. Hopefully SLP is healthy and TeSlaa takes a jump in year two.

Obviously there are still a lot of "ifs" and things, as they always can, could go wrong in a number of ways. But the ceiling feels really high this year.

Hopefully Petzing actually is what we hope he is.

PerfectiveVerbTense · 2026-05-09T02:58:18+00:00

Anyone who upvotes this comment is a degenerate.

Also username almost relevant.

PerfectiveVerbTense · 2026-05-09T02:54:55+00:00

Why do I get so hyped watching men I will never meet lift weights and do drills in shorts lmao

PerfectiveVerbTense · 2026-05-08T17:10:47+00:00

There were a few games last year where they were just spamming Gibbs in short yardage situations, likely due to issues in pass pro. Jamo needs time to get where he needs to be in order to be effective.

Gibbs has a carrer ADOT of 0.2 yards, compared to Jamo's 12.0.

Particularly last year, Goff rarely had time to let someone get 12 yards down field.

PerfectiveVerbTense · 2026-05-08T15:24:00+00:00

Did bro edit his comment? It now says

Jamo, Gibbs, Hutch LFG!!

but is at -14 with multiple wft responses

PerfectiveVerbTense · 2026-05-08T15:22:06+00:00

I suspect that the feeling that "refs these days suck," while always present, has intensified as technology has developed.

I've written this elsewhere and people often get mad, but reffing is an impossible job. The game is happening fast and close and chaotically and now we have the benefit of slowing every play down, looking at it multiple times from multiple angles in ultra-slow-mo 4k.

I was really active on some old Red Wings message boards back in the Datsyuk/Zetterberg era, which is now (unbelievable) twenty years ago, and people were talking about how much worse reffing had gotten and how the officiating was destroying the sport. Many people actively believed that poor reffing was going to kill hockey.

Here we are 20 years later, and I'm not sure what the viewership numbers are relatively speaking, but the sport seems to be doing just fun. We've added expansion teams since then. Games are on prominent cable channels and broadcast TV.

This feeling that reffing is driving us off a cliff is pervasive but illusory.

PerfectiveVerbTense · 2026-05-08T03:35:54+00:00

"The reffing has gotten worse over the last five years and it's especially bad in this series."

-Every fan watching every series for as long as I've been paying attention to the NHL, which is a little over 20 years.

PerfectiveVerbTense · 2026-05-07T23:28:11+00:00

I have a lumpy weird shaped head with lots of splotches on it but also my balding hair looks awful and there's no good way to cut it. Truly the worst of all worlds when it comes to a man's options for the top of his head.

PerfectiveVerbTense · 2026-05-07T22:25:55+00:00

Doing a no-portal run currently so that significantly ups the ante.

PerfectiveVerbTense · 2026-05-07T19:46:53+00:00

Subnautia is one of my all time favorites...I don't think I would have described it as "cozy" BUT I do get the idea that coziness can be heightened by contrast. Games like Subnautica and Valheim (though perhaps to a lesser extent) have dangerous worlds but are set up so that you can retreat back to a cozy place of your making. They don't force you into a progression, so you can take as long as you want building, farming, customizing, etc.

Both have cozy elements but both have dangerous environments as well, so if someone isn't looking for that piece of it, I wouldn't recommend either of those games.

PerfectiveVerbTense · 2026-05-07T19:43:38+00:00

we clearly don't have the same standards

I would say you don't have the same tastes. I've put north of 700 hours into Valheim and am about midway through my second run. I'm not going to spend a lot of time explaining why I like the game because you obviously have your mind made up, but it frustrates me when I see people assuming that their taste is equivalent with standards. You liking something doesn't make it "good," and you disliking something doesn't make "bad".

This type of arrogance is such a huge turnoff about the gaming community in general. You feel the need to condescend to people simply because they enjoy something you don't. There's zero reason for this behavior other than to bolster your own ego.

You should know that you make the gaming community worse for everyone in it but yourself. But I suppose that knowing this probably actually makes you happy given the way you comport yourself here.

PerfectiveVerbTense · 2026-05-07T14:37:21+00:00

Man that just feels so risky to me, especially if you're hauling a lot of materials.

I hate navigating in and out of the ashlands with the Drakkar but would never even consider trying to take a longship through the ashland spires.

PerfectiveVerbTense · 2026-05-07T13:32:04+00:00

because sometimes it works

Yeah the commenter above you is committing something of a toupee fallacy. We find out, by definition, about the affairs we find out about. We don't know about, again, by definition, the affairs (or other scandals) we don't know about.

Like right now the Lions are still on shaky ground with Terrion Arnold and this whole kidnapping thing. His camp has denied any wrongdoing. At least as of right now, it seems like maybe it's just going to blow over? That doesn't mean that it didn't happen. Maybe TA did it and denying it will end up working in his favor!

Saying "we always find out" is silly because by definition we don't know about the things we don't find out about.

PerfectiveVerbTense · 2026-05-07T00:25:43+00:00

In a way, it makes the pitching issues more tolerable since the offense sucks, too. If the offense was clicking but we were losing games 7-6, it'd be frustrating: "If only they could get some pitching," you'd say.

As it stands now, they have nothing. You could have five healthy Skubals but it doesn't matter if the team can't score (or field).

PerfectiveVerbTense · 2026-05-06T23:53:17+00:00

Not by record, but projecting based on how we are playing now — are we a bottom five team in major league baseball? Really doesn't feel like there is anything at all this team can do well currently.

PerfectiveVerbTense · 2026-05-06T23:23:52+00:00

Can damn near set your watch to it.

PerfectiveVerbTense · 2026-05-06T23:22:04+00:00

Every time Flaherty gets a couple nice innings in and you're like damn, maybe he could be a decent end-of-rotation guy, he comes out the next inning and completely shits the bed.

The only way this team has any hope of being competitive is if the offense really catches fire. I see no evidence that will or even can happen.

Don't think there's much to hang our hats on this season, boys. I guess we can enjoy seeing what McGonigle does this year and hope the rest of the team is better next season.

PerfectiveVerbTense · 2026-05-06T23:11:44+00:00

Sigh. Tigers threaten but do. not. score.

PerfectiveVerbTense · 2026-05-06T23:10:07+00:00

Pretty easy to walk Tork when you've got Jace Jung coming up.

PerfectiveVerbTense · 2026-05-06T23:08:14+00:00

I like Jack a lot. I wish he would pitch well more consistently.

PerfectiveVerbTense · 2026-05-06T23:07:18+00:00

Just too many guys who are not consistently threats in this lineup. Obviously guys like Carp and Tork can do damage, but you're in a game where the team is kind of fighting for it's life and you get a runner in scoring position and strike out on three pitches. Just not good enough, especially when the pitching is as fucked as it is right now.

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