Superstar Actor Discusses Hometown Detroit Tigers
The Detroit Tigers broadcast booth had a special guest on Monday in the form of actor J.K. Simmons. Simmons is well known for his roles in the Spider-Man franchise, Whiplash, and hundreds of other projects. He is also a Michigan native and fan of the Tigers. He sat down with play-by-play man Jason Benetti to discuss the team.
"Well, it's been crazy. So many kids being a part of it, and then having this guy [Parker Meadows] come back, having Tork, you know, come back after having that long stint down in Triple-A, longer than I think anybody thought. Greene's healthy now, I mean, it's really fun to watch," Simmons said about the recent success of Detroit.
Since the start of August, the Tigers have gone 18-12 and gained ground in the playoff race. They are 7-3 over their last ten games, and although they are 9.5 back of the division, they sit just five games out of the Wild Card race.
Even after Detroit decided to sell at the deadline, Simmons kept the faith that this team could succeed.
"I mean, what, 25 games to play? You know, I was saying this six weeks ago, and people were going 'yeah, okay.' Since the All-Star break, it's like, 'if we go 13-3,' and then win the four out of six after that, or whatever it was. We're not out of it, and the schedule coming up is, you know, we played most of the tough teams," he explained as to how he kept his hope alive as a fan.
In order for the Tigers to earn that third Wild Card spot, they will have to surpass both the Minnesota Twins and Kansas City Royals not just in the Wild Card standings, but their division. It's a tall order, but they have been playing much better baseball over the last month.
"It's September, and we're talking about it. I mean, that's what I hoped for in March... I believed there was a good chance this could happen," he told Benetti when talking about his All-Star break hopes.
Simmons is clearly keeping the faith on a young team that had a lot to prove, but has done so as of late.
Of course, when J.K. Simmons and his iconic voice are in the booth, Benetti had to ask him to break down a Parker Meadows swing on a flyout to the warning track. The Acadamey Award winner kept it short and sweet.
"Uh, good swing. Good swing by Parker Meadows here. Just, uh, not quite good enough. He's got that classic, beautiful left-handed swing," Simmons siad to break it down.
It's hard to argue with him on that one.
SEAN O'LEARY