DETROIT _ They can sense the season is getting closer now, playing nine-inning games under the lights with real umpires and piped-in crowd noise.
We can see the Tigers' prospects getting brighter, too, even if it's only a short-term glimpse at a far-away future we're seeing when 19-year-old Riley Greene makes a diving grab in right field and then hammers an opposite-field shot over the fence in left during an intrasquad scrimmage at Comerica Park.
In the here and now, though, there's a different kind of reality that's setting in _ with the start of Major League Baseball's 60-game sprint only a week away _ and we saw some of that Wednesday night as well.
There was Matthew Boyd _ the projected opening day starter next Friday in Cincinnati _ successfully tinkering with his four-pitch repertoire, a day after missing a bullpen session due to self-reporting a brief encounter with an asymptomatic COVID-19 patient _ all part of the "new normal," as he calls it.
But there was also Jeimer Candelario, continuing with what has been a strong showing for him in this Spring Training 2.0 in Detroit, helping to solidify his position as the Tigers' starting third baseman this season. And offering some more hope that the Tigers' bridge to the great beyond could be a little sturdier than it appeared last summer.
A year ago, he was just one more symbol of how far away the Tigers really were. Candelario, acquired from the Cubs along with youngster Isaac Paredes at the 2017 trade deadline, made a good first impression in Detroit, including 19 homers in his first full season in the majors in '18.
But he seemed lost at the plate last spring and was optioned to Toledo in May. After getting recalled, he then was moved to first base in late July so the Tigers could take a longer look at Dawel Lugo at third. By season's end, Candelario's numbers looked a lot like the Tigers' record: He finished with a .203 batting average and a .643 OPS in 94 games.
Still, after a strong showing from Candelario in winter ball in the Dominican Republic, general manager Al Avila insisted in January the a 26-year-old switch-hitter was "a good candidate to get back on track." And while Candelario's slow start in spring training probably didn't do much to bolster that opinion with the Tigers' brass, the last couple weeks here in Detroit just might.
