Tanking would've been easy.
One of the worst baseball teams in the past three seasons, the Detroit Tigers simply could have kept the status quo in a 60-game season — searching for another top-five draft pick to bolster the organization's future, as they have done three times with their 310 losses from 2017-19.
The suspense of a prospect, namely right-handed pitcher Casey Mize, being added to the team's roster grew Sunday night when general manager Al Avila scheduled a news conference for noon Monday, meaning one of two things: Either the No. 1 pick from 2018 was coming up, or Avila wanted to give his frustrated manager, Ron Gardenhire, a break from the never-ending questions about Mize's status.