Rival Roundup, Vol. 55: Mr. Bluesky

This week’s biggest story might just be the embeds.

Gang, I gotta tell you, catching a cold within the first two weeks of November really ushers in the transition through fall like nothing else, although the aggressive darkness — you probably have about 30 minutes of sunlight left if you’re reading this on Saturday morning — packs a punch, too.

• The Tigers will bear witness to the raising of the Dodgers’ championship flag on Opening Day, 2025; if you play a weird game of Kevin Bacon you can sort of make a connection from the Dodgers’ 2024 World Series Championship to Freddie Freeman’s grand slam to the similar walk-off by Kirk Gibson back to the Tigers. Simple!

• The poor Tigers are also one of the teams remaining on Bally for next season, although even Bally isn’t remaining Bally; if you’re watching the Wild or the Wolves this winter, you’ll have already clocked their transition into FanDuel.

• Organizationally, the Tigers have been tabbed as the best-hitting development system by Baseball America, by measure of their HIT+ statistic. It seems we’ve been hearing about Tiger prospects for a long time — after all, they had a 10-year postseason drought — but this year’s Cinderella run might mean there’s something growing on that farm after all.
• Despite having the opportunity to really lean into the art deco, the Cleveland Guardians have opted not to listen to me as part of their jersey redesign, which is really less of a redesign and more of a tune-up to a set that’s only existed for a couple years.

• The White Sox have connections to both the AL and the NL Comeback Player of the Year.

• Of course, with the White Sox being the White Sox, the real story here is that Chris Sale is no longer on the team, and Garrett Crochet isn’t going to be on the team for very much longer — the controversial 2024 deadline candidate may be packing his bags within the next couple of weeks.

• The Central is all over the awards conversation this year, and the Kansas City Royals in particular are sweeping home the hardware this winter. Bobby Witt Jr and Salvador Perez taking home Silver Sluggers, as well as Witt being named an AL MVP finalist and manager Matt Quatraro in the running for MOTY. Oh, and Seth Lugo is in the mix for the Cy Young — as is Guardian closer Emmanuel Clase, though both will lose out to Detroit starter Tarik Skubal.
• Oh, and don’t forget that A.J. Hinch (Detroit) and Stephen Vogt (Cleveland) are the other finalists for Manager of the Year. The Twins are really on the outside looking into the division this time around.
• Royals Review has the latest on KC’s quest for an updated ballpark.
• And finally, the Guardians have the latest on their own coaching shakeups entering 2025.

Thanks for another week of rounding rivals, and we’ll see you this time next Saturday!