
Spoelstra: No need to penalize Ball any further
Erik Spoelstra supports no further penalties for LaMelo Ball after flagrant foul.
The Detroit Tigers secured a 2-1 victory over the Royals, highlighted by a clean broadcast from their new TV network, Detroit SportsNet. Fans appreciate the absence of excessive gambling graphics and a simplified score display.
The News' Tony Paul gives his quick takes on the Tigers' 2-1 win over the Royals on Tuesday:
It wasn't a long broadcast — that happens when the teams combine for three runs; the Tigers had just two hits entering the eighth inning, both infield singles — but it was a clean broadcast.
I've been meaning to say this for a while about the Tigers' new TV network, Detroit SportsNet.
The Tigers moved on from the soon-to-shutter FanDuel Sports Network and moved under the MLB Media umbrella, and it's been beneficial for the fans, who no longer are inundated with constant gambling odds and crawls and unnecessary graphics. There's a single score bug in the bottom right-hand corner that's small but has all the information you need (even ABS challenges remaining) and is very easy to read.
The Tigers, in taking over more control of the broadcast, clearly have decided that less is more, and kudos to them. They're nailing it.
Let's hope it stays that way, especially once Detroit SportsNet's presenting sponsor, bet365, becomes a legal betting operator in the state of Michigan later this month.
It's shaping up to be another lost season for Parker Meadows.
Meadows — the Tigers' center fielder who was an invaluable piece to the playoff puzzle in 2024 before falling off in 2025 amid a freak spring-training nerve injury from which he never did get right — was transferred to the 60-day injured list earlier this week after his scary collision with left fielder Riley Greene last Thursday.
Meadows, 26, suffered a broken arm and concussion in the collision with Greene, he's had surgery on the arm, and he now stands to be out of action until at least early June — just as he was starting to look a bit more like the Meadows of old, with that athleticism that can play so well in center field and on the bases.
It'll mean more center-field reps for Javier Báez and more shortstop reps for Kevin McGonigle, and probably more third-base reps for Colt Keith, too. The offense shouldn't suffer, thanks in large part to McGonigle's scorching start to his major-league career, but there might be a sight fall off defensively, at multiple positions, as a ripple effect.
Meadows, a second-round pick by the Tigers in 2018, is on the injured list for the sixth time since 2021.
There was an interesting historical stat from the Detroit SportsNet crew Tuesday: The record for at-bats to start a season without a walk, hit or strikeout belongs to a man named Ted Kazanski (yes, that's Ka-ZAN-ski). Kazanski went 22 at-bats to start the 1954 season.
It wasn't the most exciting Tigers game, at least until the bottom of the eighth inning (what instincts by Zach McKinstry, what a rope by Dillon Dingler, so I went down the rabbit hole on Kazanski. Here's what I learned:
(Season total in parentheses)
▶ Zach McKinstry (2)
▶ Framber Valdez (2)
▶ Those Royals gold belts — some players wear them, some don't (some players are fun, some aren't)
▶ Dillon Dingler
▶ Game 18: Royals at Tigers, 6:40 Wednesday, DSN, 97.1
@tonypaul1984
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This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Detroit Tigers, Game 17: One thing I loved, one thing I didn't
The final score was 2-1 in favor of the Detroit Tigers.
The Tigers transitioned from FanDuel Sports Network to Detroit SportsNet under the MLB Media umbrella.
Fans have noted a cleaner broadcast with fewer gambling graphics and a simple, easy-to-read score display.
The Tigers had only two hits entering the eighth inning, both of which were infield singles.

Erik Spoelstra supports no further penalties for LaMelo Ball after flagrant foul.
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