Hey, it’s Monday, and pitchers and catchers are reporting THIS WEEK. (The Cubs actually reported yesterday!) That means we get to look forward to our first sightings of the team, and keeping an eye out for #bestshapeofhislife player makeovers. It’s an exciting time for baseball fans, as it finally means we can start to really look forward to the season ahead.
In our rundown from last week, we look at some free agency moves; Ippei Mizuhara is sentenced; Nolan Arenado wants to go to the AL East, and Aaron Judge is a dad!
But first, let’s look at the projections that came out last week!
Projection Mania!
At the start of every year there are a few sites that put out projections for how they think teams will fare in the coming season. These predictions are based on past performance as well as offseason moves, and while they are never perfect, they’re usually a pretty decent predictor of how things might shape up over the coming season. So how did the Tigers fare on these lists? Well, after a somewhat confounding and unexpected 2025 season… no one can agree.
According to Baseball Prospectus’s PECOTA projections, the Tigers will end up in fourth in the Central with under 80 wins for the season. Meanwhile, FanGraphs has the Tigers projected to end up in second place in the AL Central with a 47% chance to be in the offseason. What’s funny about these disparate projects is that PECOTA has the Tigers just under 80 wins and FanGraphs has them just over 82. Not a lot of difference there, but very different outcomes. Should be interesting to see what the Tigers actually accomplish.
Quick Hits
Social Media Highlights
The Yard Goats will play one game as the Hartford Leaf Peepers 9/3. The Leaf Peepers is a tribute to the 10 million people who travel to New England each year to see the leaves change. Let us know what you think; we’re here to rake in your feedback.
tinyurl.com/y2a4m42a
— Hartford Yard Goats (@yardgoats.bsky.social) 2025-02-07T20:41:08.799Z
Major League Baseball is warning it could walk away from ESPN if the network opts out of their national TV deal next month. A new deal with ESPN would be unlikely following an opt out, a person briefed on MLB’s thinking said.
www.nytimes.com/athletic/611…
— Evan Drellich (@evandrellich.bsky.social) 2025-02-06T22:43:05.809Z
We have 332 ballots listen in the Tracker after the BBWAA drop today. That’s 84.3% ballots known, and that means we’re one ballot short of breaking the all-time record for % of ballots known. I’m working on it.
Scroll down to the post-results section to see all the ballots added today: tracker.fyi