Tigers considering moving Comerica fences in

Ah yes fall in Michigan. The temperature is dropping, the leaves are changing colors, and Lions fans are already burning their merch with fire.

It the words of the great Rob Scheider in The Waterboy: Oh no, we suck again.

Before we get going- there is a referral link at the bottom of this email. If you could forward this onto just one Kool-Aid chuggin', octopus huckin' friend of yours- we would appreciate it.

And when you do, you can earn rewards... like stickers, hats, tickets, & memorabilia.

Hut, hut, hike!

Could-Be-Fun Season Turns Into Fever Dream Hellscape As Lions (1-4) Lose 29-0 to Pats in Foxborough

The 2022 Lions have prided, no pun intended, themselves on never quitting. Sunday, they technically never quit because you can't quit something you never start.

In what was undoubtedly the Lions worst performance of the year on both sides of the ball, New England, led by rookie QB Bailey Zappe, slowly burnt Detroit to a crisp and all but ended any positive outlook for the 2022 season.

Before Sunday, the Lions had the NFL's highest scoring offense. They were matched up against a struggling Patriots team who was starting a third-string quarterback. Standing on the other sideline? Ex-head coach/ultimate Detroit villain, Matt Patricia.

The Lions had every single reason in the world to go out and do everything they could to try and make their record 2-3 before heading into a much needed bye week.

Instead, we saw more poor coaching decisions, untimely turnovers, and an NFL record-setting 0 fourth down conversions on 6 attempts.

After yet another week of some iffy decisions by Campbell, concerns about his ability to be a head coach in the NFL are starting to arise.

“For me, this is about as bad as it gets,” Campbell said, after his Lions lost 29-0 to the Patriots. “Sometimes, it’s gonna get bad before it gets better. I believe we hit rock bottom. So now, the only place to go is back up.” (The Athletic)

Game Notes:

Goff comes down to earth: 19/35, 229 yards, 0 TD's, 1 interception in the redzone and a fumble lost for a scoop and score the other way.

Goose Egg: The Lions came in averaging a league-best 35 points per game. Detroit is the second team in the past 25 seasons to enter a game leading the league in scoring and get shut out (ESPN).

More bad news: The Lions’ offense totaled a season-low 312 yards on 4.9 yards per play, went 4-for-12 on third down and 0-for-6 on fourth down. Since 2000, there have been 23 instances of a team attempting six or more fourth-down conversions in a game, per TruMedia. Detroit is the only one to go 0-for-6. (The Athletic)

We forced a punt: For the first time in 7 quarters (yikes), the Detroit defense forced a punt in the fourth quarter of Sunday's match-up.

Next Up: There must be a god, because the Lions are on a bye. Their next opponent is the Cowboys Sunday, October 23rd in Jerry World.

Soderblom Makes 23-Man Roster, Edvinsson Doesn't, Wings Clash With Montreal In Season Opener Friday

Monday at 5pm was the NHL's deadline to for teams to submit their final 23-man roster ahead of the regular season. We're going to provide the SparkNotes below, but for the full roster, click here. 

Made the cut:

•  LW Elmer Soderblom: The 21-year-old, 6-foot-8 behemoth of a Swede who was picked 159th overall in 2019 made the roster after a strong preseason

• C Joe Veleno: "We wouldn't want Veleno as a 13th forward," (Wings head coach Derek) Lalonde said. "With those younger players, if they're going to get significant minutes here, we'd consider GR the best option." (Freep) AKA it sounds like Veleno is here to get minutes.

• LW Adam Erne

Who didn't:

• D Simon Edvinsson: “It goes back to opportunity and minutes,” Lalonde said. “Obviously I think we could have seen Simon starting with us on Day 1. But again, what would Day 1 look like Friday here compared to what he’s going to get in Grand Rapids? More minutes. More opportunity. He’ll play in all three situations, five-on-five, PP, PK (in Grand Rapids).” (The Athletic)

• RW Jonatan Berggren (sent to GR)

• D Albert Johansson (sent to GR)

The following were waived, clear waivers, then were sent to Grand Rapids:

• LW Givani Smith

• G Jussi Okinuora 

• F Taro Hirose

• F Kyle Criscuolo

So what does this mean for the opening night lineup? We can probably bet on the top 6 forward looking like this:

But after that, is pure speculation. This was the Wings lineup at practice on Monday:

Lalonde cautioned (of the practice lineup), “That’ll probably change, even tomorrow,” as the Red Wings keep evaluating. He also added, “There literally could have been five or six guys that were in that were in that 13 or 14 spot for practice today.”

Wings open the season at home vs Montreal, Friday, October 14th at 7pm. LGRW.

Thank God: The 2022 Detroit Tigers Season Is Over

The Tigers closed the season going 11-5, which was simply putting cheap lipstick on their pig of a season.

Detroit closes the year going 66-96, 11 games worse than their 77-85 performance from 2021. They were shut out 22 times, ranked last in homeruns and chased pitches more than 29 teams in the MLB. (The Athletic)

With numbers like that, there are going to be changes afoot, and manager AJ Hinch wasted no time.

Hinch announced Friday the Tigers are moving on from hitting coach Scott Coolbaugh. Assistant hitting coach Mike Hessman and third-base coach Ramon Santiago have been offered reassignment to the minor leagues.

Quality control coach Josh Paul did not have his contract renewed. Bench coach George Lombard, pitching coach Chris Fetter and assistant pitching coach Juan Nieves will remain in their roles for 2023. (The Athletic)

So what's next? That will be for new President of Baseball Operations Scott Harris and Hinch to figure out. Everything will be looked at from new coaches and Javy Baez, to our third outfielder to literally considering moving the fences in (?).

The idea of moving the outfield fences in at Comerica Park continues to be discussed at the corporate level. “I think, first off, it is a hot topic,” Hinch said. “I get asked about it, and I think we should always look at ways to enhance the player performance, fan approval, organizational approval, the organizational progressiveness. But I don’t know where it lands. I think if we can build a better experience for all of those people, then we obviously would support it. That’s obviously something that Chris (Ilitch) and Scott … it’s not a clubhouse topic to navigate.”

Here's to 2023.

Ivey's Speed Impresses, But Decision Making Doesn't As Pistons Fall to Pelicans in 2nd Preseason Game

For the second straight preseason game the Pistons committed too many turnovers and shot poorly en route to a 107-101 loss to the Pelicans in New Orleans on Friday.

Saddiq Bey was the star of the show for Detroit, finishing with 23 points and seven boards, while Jaden Ivey scored 14, adding six assists but committing seven turnovers.

“(Ivey) is a bullet out there,” guard Cory Joseph said. “He brings another dynamic as far as pushing the pace, getting into the open court, which we need to do more. I can see flashes of (Russell) Westbrook.” (Freep)

The Pistons built a 20-9 lead early on but fell behind as many as 13 in the second half due to 36.5% shooting from the field, and an even worse 28.6% from three.

The Pistons' season opens on Wednesday, October 19th at LCA vs Orlando.

NSFW: Ohio State Destroys MSU for Second Year In A Row

Another week, another Michigan State blowout loss. This time came at the hands of number two Ohio State.

No one in the world is even a little bit surprised at the outcome. The Buckeyes entered the day as 26.5 point favorites and easily covered due to the likes of WR Marvin Harrison Jr. and Heisman hopeful QB C.J. Stroud.

It was 35-13 at halftime.

The only sign of life that MSU showed was early in the first quarter, when CB Charles Brantley picked off Stroud and took it to the house on a rare mistake by the junior signal caller.

Via The Athletic: Other than that, Stroud looked like the early draft pick he’s been touted as. He completed countless in-the-bucket throws, including a next-level dime on third-and-8 against Ameer Speed on OSU’s final drive of the half. The rest of the game went the same way until Stroud was pulled for Kyle McCord, whom the Spartans held to zero points while the Buckeyes kept things vanilla. All told, Stroud completed 21 of 26 passes for 361 yards and six touchdowns, with Harrison (seven catches for 131 yards and three touchdowns) and Emeka Egbuka (five catches for 143 yards and a touchdown) easily surpassing 100 receiving yards.

Ohio State totaled 614 yards of offense. It’s only the second time the Spartans have allowed 600-plus yards in a game in the past 15 years — the other being 655 yards in last year’s blowout loss to the Buckeyes.

How bad is it right now? Well, you have MSU-loyal Lions fans asking OSU's quarterback if he would come play for Detroit next year.

The nightmare continues next week in East Lansing as the Spartans take on Wisconsin at 4pm.

Wolverines (6-0) Survive Sideline Scare, Handle Indiana 31-10

Michigan's running backs coach and all time leading rusher, Mike Hart, collapsed with about 5 minutes remaining in the first quarter due to a seizure. He was transported to a local hospital and stayed the night in Bloomington for observation.

Due to the unfortunate circumstances, it was tough for the entire Michigan team to focus on the task at hand- beating Indiana on the road. The game was tied 10-10 at half.

At halftime Harbaugh was able to tell his team that Hart would be ok, and the weight seemed to be lifted off of the players.

“We’ve got to have the best half of football of the season,” Harbaugh told the team. “It’s got to come right now.” (The Athletic)

Michigan heeded Harbaugh's advice and proceeded to shut out the Hoosiers in the second half and put up 21 points of their own, securing their sixth win of the season and third in the conference.

Key to success this week? QB JJ McCarthy. Michigan has relied heavily on the run game to carry them this far, but with Indiana "bottling up" the ground, Michigan turned to the air. McCarthy completed 28/36 passes for 304 yards and three second half touchdowns.

Bottling up is in quotes up there because RB Blake Corum was still able to put together a 124-yard performance on 25 carries.

While the offense came to life in the second half, it was the defense who was absolutely lights out. The Hoosiers had 29 yards after halftime and minus-12 in the fourth quarter as Michigan’s pass rush wore down another team, thwarting any possibility of a comeback. (The Athletic)

Michigan takes on Penn State Saturday at noon in the Big House.

That'll do it team. Until next week.