Detroit Tigers Links: Return of vintage JV, experience no edge, large KC crowds, too many Detroit pitchers

Detroit Tigers: can Justin Verlander flip the script again? – Joe White, Isportsweb

More from Detroit Tigers News

He has two starts left in the tank this regular season. Will they become the same magical moments that happened almost exactly one year ago beginning with a gem tomorrow night in KC? Consider that his season-ending numbers in ’13 were an ERA of 3.46 and a WHIP of 1.31. He hasn’t been a little worse in ’14, he’s been substantially inferior.

Experience isn’t an advantage in pennant races – Russell Carleton, Just a Bit Outside

Today we learn that having been in a pennant race before does not grant you superpowers to help you cope with this year’€™s pennant race. Here’€™s the twist: There probably are guys who learn from last year’€™s experiences in dealing with the stress of this year’€™s pennant race. In that way, their own personal experience was a great tool for learning how to handle pressure, and that’€™s great. The problem is that people will often make gigantic leaps of logic from one case study to the rest of MLB players.

More than 100K tickets sold for Tigers-Royals series – Tony Paul, Detroit News

When the Tigers and Royals play their super-huge three-game series at Kauffman Stadium this weekend, a Michigan Stadium-worth of fans will be taking in the action, a Royals official told The Detroit News on Thursday afternoon. More than 100,000 tickets already have been sold, and nearly 120,000 are expected to be sold by the end of the series Sunday afternoon.Get ready for a whole lot of powder blue.This marks the first time the Royals will draw 100,000 fans for a three-game September series since 1982.

How unusual is it for Tigers to use 30 pitchers in one season? – Dave Hogg, Fox Sports Detroit

How unusual is it for a team to use 30 pitchers? Well, the 1996 Tigers had one of the worst pitching staffs in history, losing 109 games with a 6.38 ERA. Omar Olivares led the team with seven wins, Gregg Olson had the most saves (8) and Brian Williams had a terrible season as a starter, as a closer and in middle relief. Six pitchers finished the season with double-digit ERAs, including Jeff McCurry’s 24.30 and current Red Sox manager John Farrell’s 14.21 in the last two games of his career.