The Detroit Red Wings once epitomized excellence in the National Hockey League.

They have won 11 Stanley Cups, more than any other U.S.-based franchise. Between 1991 and 2016, the Wings qualified for the playoffs every year except 2005 , when the NHL locked out its players in a labor dispute and canceled the postseason..

It has now been a decade since Detroit’s last playoff appearance. The Wings won exactly half of its 82 games in 2025-26, finishing sixth in the NHL’s Atlantic Division.

This is the third straight year the team has faltered in the final weeks of the regular season. They were competing for a wild card spot before fading in March 2024 and 2025.

But this collapse might be the worst of all.

Deja vu

The Wings were in good shape on February 4, when the league took a break for the 2026 Winter Olympics. They stood in second place in the NHL’s Atlantic Division. Three players—Dylan Larkin, Moritz Seider, and Lucas Raymond—went to Italy to play for their home countries. Larkin ended up winning a gold medal with Team USA. 

After they came home, things fell apart. Again. Detroit lost 16 of its last 24 games and finished sixth in their division. They won exactly half of their 82 games, ending up with 41 wins, 31 regulation losses, and 10 overtime losses. Teams get 2 points for a victory, and 1 if they lose in OT.  That adds up to 92 points, seven short of the final wild card spot in the Eastern Conference.

Detroit Free Press hockey writer Helene St. James says doubts started creeping in after the Olympics.

“They were really chafing when they started getting a lot of questions about holding up in March,” she says. “They can blame outside noise all they want, the noise was created within the locker room.”

That noise resulted in too many slow starts and mental lapses on the ice. In several games, the opposing teams scored early and often, and the Wings couldn’t find a way to come back. St. James says the team will have to address that before next season.

“It’s on the players to come out with energy at the start of games,” she says. “None of the players have an answer for that.”

Trust the Yzerplan?

Some of the responsibility for this year’s collapse falls on General Manager Steve Yzerman. When he took the job in 2019, he inherited a mess. His predecessor, Ken Holland, built teams that won four Stanley Cups between 1997 and 2008. After the NHL imposed a salary cap in 2005, Holland had trouble signing top free agents. At the same time, he awarded lengthy and expensive contracts to subpar players and developed few if any young players through the draft.

It has taken Yzerman, a former Wings captain, years to overcome Detroit’s salary cap woes and restock its once-barren farm system. 

Statistically, the Wings have improved under Yzerman’s watch. Although 92 points wasn’t good enough to make the playoffs, it is the most they’ve collected in his seven seasons at the helm.

St. James says it’s fair to question some of Yzerman’s moves.

“He has made some free agent signings that haven’t worked out,” she says. “He’s tried to find somebody to be great on that second line center spot, and they haven’t found it.”

Follow the leader

Some fans have questioned Dylan Larkin’s leadership as team captain. Many say he doesn’t hold his teammates accountable for their performance or motivate them to be better.

St. James rejects that narrative.

“They’re adults,” she says. “There needs to be accountability, and if it’s not from the player himself, maybe it’s time to move on from this player.”

Even if Larkin is reluctant to call out his teammates, head coach Todd McLellan is not. At one point, he compared some of his players to empty jerseys. Talk like that can cause players to “tune out” their coaches. St. James doubts that’s the problem.

“He may have the safest job in the NHL,” she says. “If they have tuned him out, which I don’t think is the case, then shame on those players.”

How to fix it

Yzerman tried to acquire defenseman Quinn Hughes from the Minnesota Wild during the season. Hughes, who played college hockey at the University of Michigan, was a member of the U.S. Olympic hockey team that won gold in Italy. He reportedly nixed a trade to Detroit because he wouldn’t sign a long-term contract extension.

The Wings did trade its first-round pick in the 2026 NHL Draft to get veteran defenseman Justin Faulk from the St. Louis Blues. Faulk played in 17 games for Detroit, scoring five goals and assisting on three others.

St. James says she would keep Larkin, Seider, and Alex DeBrincat, the team’s leading scorer this season. But she says Yzerman could package other players in a trade to get someone better.

“You have to move on from some of the bottom six guys,” she says. “Michael Rasmussen has not made an impact for them in three years.”

Rasmussen and Larkin are the only players who were on the roster before Yzerman became GM.

Help is on the way, but when?

If there’s any hope for the future, fans will find it in Grand Rapids. The Wings’ top minor league affiliate, the Griffins, won the American Hockey League‘s Central Division this season and are among the favorites to win the Calder Cup.

The Griffins are loaded with young talent. Three players began the season as Red Wings: center Emmitt Finnie, forward Michael Brandsegg-Nygard, and defensemen Axel Sandin-Pellikka. Finnie was the only rookie to play in all 82 games for the Wings. Sandin-Pellikka appeared in 68 NHL contests. Brandsegg-Nygard played in 14 games. 

A key player going forward is Detroit’s top goaltending prospect, Sebastian Cossa. The Wings called him up for one game in March, but he didn’t play. He’s been in the farm system for four years. 

St. James says Cossa is out of waiver exceptions, which means the Wings must have him on the roster next season, or another team could claim him.

“It usually takes a year, two years, three years before they start becoming impact players, and more so with goalies,” she says. 

Yzerman could package young players together in a trade for a high-scoring second line center. If he stands pat in the offseason, the Wings’ playoff drought might go to 11 in 2027.

The Detroit Tigers have brought back a franchise legend to help them win the American League Central Division in 2026. 

Justin Verlander signed a one-year contract in February, returning to the city where he started his career in 2006.

Verlander has won three AL Cy Young awards, once with Detroit and twice with the Houston Astros. The Tigers traded him to Houston in 2017. He helped them win two World Series championships in 2017 and 2022.

The 43-year-old right-hander is not the ace he once was. In 2024, he posted a 5.48 earned run average in his final season with Houston. He regained some of his form in 2025, with a respectable 3.85 ERA in 29 starts for the San Francisco Giants.

Cody Stavenhagen covers the Tigers for The Athletic. He says Verlander has two jobs: stabilize the back end of the starting rotation and excite nostalgic fans.

“I’m sure you can expect a lot of packed crowds, a lot of Verlander jerseys in the stands, and a lot of good vibes,” he says. “People are certainly excited to have him back.”

The Tigers open with a pair of aces

Joining Verlander in the rotation is former Houston teammate Framber Valdez. The 32-year-old left-hander was one of the top pitchers on the free agent market in the offseason. Detroit signed him to a contract in February.

Stavenhagen says Valdez is one of the top lefties in the majors. He posted a 3.66 ERA in 2025, started 31 games, and struck out 187 batters. That was good for 3.6 wins above a replacement player.

“He has the best groundball rate in the game,” Stavenhagen says. “This guy is really good.”

Valdez’s signing surprised baseball insiders because of the price. His contract has an average annual value of $37 million.

That’s twice as much as the Tigers offered to their ace, Tarik Skubal. The two-time AL Cy Young Award winner is in the final year of his contract. His agent, Scott Boras, and Tigers executives were unable to work out a new deal in the offseason. The team offered him $19.5 million for 2026. An arbitrator awarded him $34 million.

Stavenhagen says this could be Skubal’s last season in Detroit. 

“He’s going to have a good shot to set a record contract for a starting pitcher,” Stavenhagen says. “I wouldn’t be shocked if he commands at least $400 million [in a multiyear deal].”

If the Tigers don’t sign Skubal, he can become a free agent after this season. If he signs with another team, Detroit would get nothing in return. They could also trade him in exchange for several younger players and minor league prospects.

Keep an eye on Kevin

One prospect who drew a lot attention in Spring Training is infielder Kevin McGonigle. The 21-year-old earned a spot on the Tigers’ Opening Day roster and can play several positions. 

McGonigle is the second highest-rated prospect in Major League Baseball. Stavenhagen says he’s one of the best hitting prosects the Tigers have had in a long time.

“He’s the real deal,” Stavenhagen says. “Really good bat-to-ball skills, really good plate approach. He walked more than he struck out.”

World Series or bust?

If McGonigle plays up to his potential as a rookie, he could help the Tigers avoid last year’s late-season collapse.

Detroit led the division by 10 games on Sept. 3 but lost 15 of their final 21 games. They finished one game behind the Cleveland Guardians. The Tigers beat Cleveland in the AL Wild Card round, then lost a heartbreaking 15-inning contest against the Seattle Mariners in the deciding game of the AL Championship Series.

Stavenhagen says that’s all behind them now.

“You didn’t hear a lot about that during Spring Training,” he says. “The hope is that they can be more like the team they were in the first half of last season.” 

Stavenhagen says if the pitching stays healthy, the Tigers can win the division—and maybe the AL pennant.

“It’s certainly the best all-around roster the Tigers have had in at least a decade,” he says.

No one likes getting stuck at a railroad crossing, especially when they have somewhere to be. 

Mary Behr of Woodhaven says it’s a hassle when she has to wait for a train to cross Allen Road north of Van Horn Rd.

“You sometimes sit there up to 30 minutes waiting for that train to move,” Behr says. “Many times I’ve had to call the doctor and say, ‘I’m on my way, but I was caught by the train, I’m going to be late.'”

Wayne County, which maintains Allen Road, says the average delay lasts about 10 minutes. 30 is not uncommon. In 2014, one delay lasted more than 6 hours.

The problem and the solution

The source of the tie-ups is the frequency of trains passing through Canadian National Railway‘s yard in Flat Rock about a mile away. Longer delays can happen depending on the length and speed of a train. 

To fix the problem, Wayne County will close Allen Road. in March 2026 for what Public Services Director Dayo Akinyemi calls a grade separation project.

“We’re going to bring the train traffic at an elevation higher than the vehicular traffic,” Akinyemi says. 

That means closing Allen Road and lowering it by about 20 feet and building a new railroad bridge over it. Akinyemi and his team brought maps and diagrams of the project to an open house at the Woodhaven Community Center on March 5.

David Horn came to learn more about it. He’s lived here for 43 years and says it’s long overdue.

“We need it bad,” Horn says. “Because you get a train across those tracks, and if it stalls, stays in one spot, you got all this traffic backing up on both ends.”

Those backups sometimes include emergency vehicles. Woodhaven Police Chief Jeff Brust says his officers have learned how not to get stuck. Sometimes, that means using I-75.

“We know when to divert around the tracks,” Brust says. “We have video in all of our cars that has a live feed on the tracks themselves. So once they’re dispatched to a call, they look immediately at the tracks. If Allen’s blocked, they know they can go to Van Horn. In this case with Allen being blocked, they’ll get on the freeway.”

Pack your patience

Van Horn Road is part of Wayne County’s official Allen Road construction detour. Trains will still cross both roads during the grade separation. But the county says it’s working with CN to ensure there’s no additional traffic disruption. 

Akinyemi says it’ll take time for drivers to find a detour that works for them.

“We’ll just ask people to have some patience with us,” Akinyemi says. “This is going to be a short-term pain for a long-term gain.”

Akinyemi stresses that businesses on Allen Rd. north of the closure will remain open during the $85 million project, which he hopes will be finished by the end of 2028.

Residents can stay updated on Wayne County’s Engage Allen Road project website.

State and federal officials want to know why the National Weather Service (NWS) didn’t issue a tornado watch before deadly twisters hit southwest Michigan on March 6, 2026.

A supercell thunderstorm developed rapidly over Cass County, spawning four tornadoes. The strongest tornado, with winds up to 160 mph, killed three people in Union City, MI in Branch County. 

Michigan senators Gary Peters and Elissa Slotkin wrote a letter to NWS Director Ken Graham demanding answers.

“Was a lack of staff and/or resources a contributing factor to NWS’s ability to issue a tornado watch alert ahead of the March 6 tornadoes,” the senators asked. “What, if anything, would have allowed the responsible NWS offices to identify the supercell that produced these tornadoes?”

The Trump administration cut funding for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in 2025. NOAA oversees the weather service.

Who issues watches and warnings?

Jackie Anderson is the warning coordination meteorologist at the NWS Detroit-Pontiac bureau in White Lake Township. She says it’s up to NOAA’s Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Oklahoma to issue tornado watches. 

A watch means conditions are favorable for the development of tornadoes in a given area. A warning means a tornado has been detected on radar or by people on the ground.

Anderson says when the SPC issues a watch, local NWS offices work with the folks in Norman to determine when and where tornadoes could form. Then, it’s up to the local bureaus to issue warnings.

“NWS offices across the country are looking at the radar, they’re looking at the environment, they’re looking at storm reports coming in,” Anderson says. “And when we start to see concerning signs of rotation on radar in a certain area in a certain environment that we know is conducive for tornadoes, then we’ll start looking at do we need a tornado warning or not.”

Anderson says her team has the staff and the tools they need to issue timely warnings.

“Our mission is the protection of life and property when it comes to hazardous weather,” she says. “We’re here keeping an eye on the weather 24/7, 365 days a year.”

Tornadoes can strike without warning

The challenge forecasters face is that tornadoes are, by nature, unpredictable. They can form at any time of day or year. And they sometimes spin up even when conditions aren’t necessarily favorable for them.

“Last year, we had a couple of that happened in environments where you wouldn’t say, ‘hey, I’m going to get a tornado out of this type of setup,'” she says. “So, there are some days that are really sneaky.”

Several hours before the twisters on March 6, the Storm Prediction Center posted maps on its website indicating a risk of tornadoes over southern lower Michigan. 

“Even on those days when we don’t have a line of storms coming through, we may have a few areas of storms that are a bit more isolated, but still may have a big impact,” she says.

When the weather service issues any watches or warnings, they go out to local television and radio stations, which broadcast them as soon as possible. Anderson says people can also receive alerts if they have a weather radio or a cell phone. She recommends turning on mobile devices to receive emergency alerts. Anderson says they’re very useful when tornadoes form after midnight.

“It’s really loud and it will wake you up in the middle of the night,” she says.

Spring brings other dangerous weather

Tornadoes are not the only severe weather hazard NWS monitors. Anderson says thunderstorms produce lightning that can strike from miles away. She says people who have plans outdoors should check the weather forecast for thunderstorms first.

“If you can hear thunder, if you can see lightning, you’re at risk for being struck,” she says. “Know where you’re going before those storms strike.”

March 15 to 21 is Severe Weather Awareness Week in Michigan. The weather service has information on its website to help people prepare.

The war in Iran is contributing to higher fuel prices in the United States.

GasBuddy’s head of petroleum analysis, Patrick DeHaan, says prices were already going up before the U.S. and Israel started bombing Iran. He says the prospect of war added to the increases.

“The president had alluded to potentially dealing with Iran before the attacks,” DeHaan says. “So, oil prices had already been working on pricing in the risk of said attack.”

But war was not the only factor.

“Much of the country has already started to transition back toward cleaner, more expensive summer gasoline,” DeHaan says. “Refineries are starting maintenance before the summer driving season.”

He also says demand us rising as students hit the road for spring break and warmer temperatures return.

GasBuddy’s daily price index shows the average price in Michigan before the war was a bit less than $3 for a gallon of regular unleaded gas. By March 4, it had risen to $3.21. 

Michigan prices work differently

DeHaan says daily prices in Michigan don’t go up or down based solely on market factors.

“What happens in Michigan is prices usually make a big jump, then trickle down for a matter of several days until stations have no more room to lower prices,” he says. “Then they jump back up again.”

Commuters aren’t the only ones paying more. Diesel fuel prices are up, too. DeHaan says a drone attack on a large diesel refinery in Saudi Arabia could cause prices to rise more dramatically than that of gasoline.

“It may climb another $0.40 to $0.80 a gallon over the next several weeks,” he says. “That will impact truckers very quickly as stations start to adjust their prices.”

Dire straits? Not yet

DeHaan is also watching the situation in the Persian Gulf, where Iran has threatened attacks on vessels in the Strait of Hormuz.

“That’s extremely problematic because 20% to 25% of the world’s daily oil supply needs to flow through the strait,” he says. “Until that is solved, oil prices may continue to move higher, along with gasoline, diesel, jet fuel, and other prices.”

But DeHaan says consumers should not panic. He does not expect historic oil or gasoline prices.

“Americans have seen far more significant spikes and far higher prices before,” he says.

GasBuddy tracks prices at more than 1,700 gas stations in metro Detroit and updates them in real time every five minutes.

The Detroit Red Wings haven’t qualified for the Stanley Cup playoffs since 2016. It’s the longest postseason drought in franchise history. 

But they’re on the verge of snapping that streak. 

The Wings stand in third place in the NHL’s Atlantic Division as they enter the final 24 games of the regular season. 

The golden boy returns

The last time they reached the playoffs, Dylan Larkin was a rookie. Today, he’s the team captain. He’s also an Olympic champion.

The U.S. men’s national hockey team beat Canada 2-1 in overtime in the gold medal game of the 2026 Winter Games in Italy. Larkin was on the ice when teammate Jack Hughes scored the game-winning goal.

Detroit Free Press hockey writer Helene St. James spoke with Larkin after the emotional contest.

“It was probably a good 45 minutes after the game ended,” she says. “He was still in his skates, still had is medal around his neck, and he’s like, ‘I’m not taking either off.'”

Larkin scored two goals in six Olympic games and won the most face-offs of any player. St. James says the emotional lift of winning gold could carry him and the Wings through the final third of the season.

“I know how excited he is, ” she says. “He just wants to lead the Wings into a playoff spot and end that nearly 10-year playoff drought.”

Raymond shines for Sweden

Larkin wasn’t the only Red Wing at the Olympics. Lucas Raymond played for Sweden. Moritz Seider competed for Germany. Neither team made it past the quarterfinals. Lucas was the third-leading scorer at the games with one goal and eight assists.

Because their Olympics ended early, St. James says Raymond and Seider should have some extra rest before the season resumes.

How far they go depends on their health. 

“This is when the games get really tough,” she says. “There’s no leeway to take anything easy.”

The Red Wings might not be the only ones who get a golden bounce. Many of the players on the U.S. team came up through the national development program in Plymouth. That includes Jack Hughes and goalie Connor Hellebuyck. St. James says Hellebuyck deserves as much credit for beating Canada as anyone.

“He singlehandedly kept his teammates in it in the second and third periods when the shot disparity was so much in the Canadians’ favor,” she says.

Hellebuyck stopped 41 shots against Canada. President Donald Trump hailed the Commerce Township native as a hero during his State of the Union speech. Trump also said he planned to award Hellebuyck the Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor.

Generation inspiration

St. James says winning gold is good press for the national development team and youth hockey in general, both boys and girls. The U.S. also beat Canada 2-1 in overtime in the women’s gold medal game. Farmington Hills native Megan Keller scored the game winning goal. 

The American women dominated the Olympics, outscoring their opponents 33-2. 

“I don’t know how both games cannot inspire young children to want to take up the game,” St. James says.

You can look at Ford Motor Company’s 2025 financial report in two ways. 

On one hand, the automaker earned $6.8 billion before interest, taxes, and one-time costs. On the other hand, when you subtract those figures, it shows a net loss of more than $8 billion, the largest shortfall in almost 20 years.

Ford CEO Jim Farley focused on the positives in his report to shareholders.

“Ford delivered a strong 2025 in a dynamic and often volatile environment,” Farley said.

Tariffs added to that volatility. Ford says it paid $2 billion in import taxes in 2025. 

EV losses jolt the bottom line

Automotive analyst Paul Eisenstein with Headlight.News says electric vehicles proved very costly.

“Ford wrote off almost $20 billion on its electric vehicle operations,” he says. “That reflects a whole bunch of changes to their EV program.”

 

Ford ended production of the F-150 Lightning electric pickup truck. It also backed away from plans to convert a factory in Memphis, Tenn. into an EV-only facility.

Eisenstein says Ford has yet to make a profit on EVs but is not abandoning them. He says the company will launch its Universal EV concept at a factory in Louisville, Ky. 

“It’s a radical change in the way you design and build vehicles,” he says. “And if it works, it could lower the cost of EVs substantially.”

Quality is Job 1…or is it?

Farley’s biggest challenge may be improving quality. Ford issued 153 vehicle recalls in 2025, a new industry record. Eisenstein says Ford owners are tired of having multiple recalls on the same vehicle, and often for the same problem.

“This is costing the company billions of dollars and ticking off a lot of customers,” he says.

The blue oval has a silver lining

Ford’s annual earnings statement offered some hope. The company reported record revenue of $187 billion. U.S. sales rose 6% over 2024. And hourly workers will receive individual profit-sharing checks worth about $6800 based on pre-tax earnings.

Eisenstein says net profits or losses can be deceiving.

“The net can be affected by those one-time charges, which can be manipulated to give you a good or bad number, depending on what you feel like you need,” he says. “You want to have a clear sense of what the individual elements in the bottom line are all about.”

Wayne State University researchers are looking for ways to help people with multiple sclerosis move better.

MS is a degenerative neurological disease that makes it hard for some patients to walk and keep their balance. 

Scientists wanted to know whether a physical therapy regimen that includes walking backward could improve mobility and balance. Their new study suggests it can.

They started small

Dr. Nora Fritz led the research team. She’s the director of research for WSU’s Department of Health Sciences. She’s also a physical therapy professor.

She says they’ve been looking at this in the lab for some time.

“We noticed that some individuals tend to fall backward more frequently than forward,” Fritz says. “We also noticed that individuals tend to have more trouble walking backward than they do walking forward.”

Researchers asked eight MS patients to take part in an eight-week case study. They came to the lab once a week to do backward walking training with a neurologic physical therapist. Subjects walked on a treadmill and on the ground. They also did back-stepping exercises in the lab and at home.

Fritz says the results were encouraging.

“It seems that everyone who’s participating is experiencing some level of improvement,” she says. “They really like it and they’re finding it useful.”

The team also conducted MRI screenings before and after the eight-week program.

“We looked at how the brain changed during this period,” Fritz says. “We saw evidence that there was actually some changes in structures of the brain related to balance in just a short time.”

Results could lead to new treatment

Fritz says it’s too early to reach any conclusions from the study, but the results were good enough to begin a larger, randomized control study with 90 MS patients. That lasted six months.

“Everyone has completed the training, and we’re just in the monitoring period now,” Fritz says. “We anticipate the first papers from that study to come out within the next several months.”

The findings of the eight-week trial appear in the Journal of Neurologic Physical Therapy.

It’s been 10 years since the Detroit Red Wings qualified for the National Hockey League playoffs. But 2025-26 could be the season they end that drought.

The Wings have won 33 of 58 games this season, putting them among the top five teams in the NHL’s Eastern Conference. Eight teams from each conference will qualify for the postseason.

As a player, Steve Yzerman captained the Wings to three Stanley Cups. Since becoming general manager in 2019, he has struggled to build a consistent winner.

Before the season, Yzerman signed free agent goaltender John Gibson. The 12-year veteran had played his entire career with the Anaheim Ducks before coming to Detroit.

The results were disastrous at first. Gibson gave up five goals in his first game against the Montreal Canadiens. Head coach Todd McLellan pulled him out of the net in the second period. Gibson allowed four or more goals in eight of his first 14 games.

Detroit Free Press sportswriter Helene St. James says Gibson has settled down since then.

“The goaltending has been tremendous,” she says. “Ever since he found his groove, they’ve had a chance to win every single night.”

Gibson has not allowed more than four goals in any game since Dec. 2, 2025 and has collected four shutouts.

Credit the coach, too

St. James also credits McLellan for the Wings’ success so far. Yzerman hired McLellan during the 2024-25 season after firing Derek Lalonde. She says McLellan has made the team tougher.

“Not just physical toughness, but mental toughness,” St. James says. “That has made all the difference.”

While the Wings look like a playoff team, they have shown some cracks heading into the Winter Olympics in Italy. They have lost five of their last seven games, including a 5-0 drubbing by the Colorado Avalanche on Jan. 31 at Little Caesars Arena. Two days later, the Wings beat the Avs 2-0 in Denver.

St. James says Yzerman could trade younger prospects or draft picks to get a top forward or defenseman. But she cautions they won’t become a Stanley Cup contender just by adding one player.

“They do not want a rental,” she says. “They don’t want to give up a lot of future [talent] just to improve immediately, unless it’s a player who’s going to stick around.”

The Wings were interested in getting former University of Michigan star Quinn Hughes from the Vancouver Canucks, but Hughes’s agent indicated he wasn’t willing to sign a long-term contract with Detroit. Yzerman passed and the Canucks ended up trading Hughes to the Minnesota Wild in December.

Avoid deja vu

Most of Detroit’s players will have a chance to rest during the Olympics. Three of their stars will compete for their countries in Italy, including Dylan Larkin (USA), Lucas Raymond (Sweden), and Moritz Seider (Germany).

Larkin and Raymond played in the Four Nations tournament in 2025. St. James says both players struggled when they returned to the Wings, who lost 15 of their final 24 games and missed the playoffs.

She says the Wings don’t want that to happen again.

“Every one of those [Olympic] games is basically a [playoff] game seven,” she says. “You’re asking them to fly across the Atlantic and play a lot of games in a short amount of time.”

Canada is favored to win the gold medal in Italy. St. James says losing could also take an emotional toll on the players.

Fans will find out when the Wings return to NHL action against the Ottawa Senators on Feb. 26.

When the Detroit Tigers won the 1968 World Series, starting pitcher Mickey Lolich jumped into the arms of his catcher, Bill Freehan, to celebrate an improbable comeback. The St. Louis Cardinals, who won the fall classic the year before, led the Tigers three games to one. But Detroit rallied to win the next three games. Lolich pitched two of those games from start to finish.

The left-hander from Portland, Oregon was named the most valuable player of the ’68 series, and went on to become the Tigers’ all-time leader in strikeouts (2,679), shutouts (39), and games started (459).

50 years later, Lolich put his baseball stories on paper in “Joy in Tigertown” in 2018 with help from Baseball Hall of Fame writer Tom Gage. WDET’s Pat Batcheller talked to Lolich about the book.

Pat Batcheller: Why did you write the book?

Mickey Lolich: I sit around with people all the time, and tell baseball stories about the Tigers and my life and that type of stuff. And people are always saying ‘you should write a book.’ I sort of always put it off. And then I came to realize one day that I had three daughters. And those daughters were quite young during my baseball career and really didn’t know too much about the game or what I did in my lifetime. Then I have grandsons that don’t really know anything about what I did. So I figured I’d tell my life story of how I grew up, what I did in those days that led to me being a baseball player. I also mix in the World Series games 1 through 7 and what happened in those games. I put the book together and we got it on the market and are getting a lot of compliments about it.

Pat Batcheller: What will readers learn about you that they might not have known before?

Mickey Lolich: Well, maybe one thing—that they saw me pitch left-handed, but I’m right-handed. It sort of shocks people when they learn about that.

Pat Batcheller: How did you become a lefty?

Mickey Lolich: One day I was out riding in Portland, Oregon. That’s where I’m from. I was 2 years old. I was riding my hot-rod tricycle down the sidewalk. And I lost control of it, I went off the curb. And parked there was an Indian motorcycle. And I hit the kickstand and the bike came down on top of me and broke my left collarbone in two places. Well, back in 1942, they just sort of strapped your arm across your chest and wait for it to heal. When they took the bindings off, I had total atrophy in my left arm. It wasn’t working at all. So my parents had an exercise program, moving my arm in front of my chest, and back-and-forth. Then they took to putting it up and over my head like a throwing action.

Now, at that age, I was fascinated with picking up little trucks and cars and throwing them with my right arm. And when they saw me throwing things, they’d go, “wait a minute, we’ve got to strengthen his left arm.” So the next move would put my folks in jail now. They tied my right arm behind my back and made me use my left hand. Well, I still wanted to throw those little cars and trucks, so I threw them left-handed. And when I built up good strength in my arm, they untied my arm in the back and let me use whatever hand I wanted to. But I continued to eat, write, or whatever I did right-handed. But when it came to a throwing action, I always threw left-handed. And that’s how I became a left-handed pitcher.

The career that almost ended before greatness

Pat Batcheller: Your career as a Tiger almost ended before it began when you briefly quit baseball at age 21. What led to that decision?

Mickey Lolich: I was playing down in Knoxville, Tennessee. I had a bad outing and things didn’t go real well for me at all. And when the game was over, the manager of the team held a clubhouse meeting, called me up to stand alongside him and, in my opinion, ridiculed me far and above what he should have done. And I said, “OK,” and then they sent me off to Durham, North Carolina to play. Well, the next year, I was pitching AAA for Denver. And I was having a few problems at the beginning of the season. And the general manager in charge of the minors decided to send me to go to Knoxville. I said, “I refuse to go to Knoxville, I will not play for that manager again.” He [General Manager Jim Campbell] says “I’m in charge, and you’ll go where you’re going!” So I got an airplane ticket for Knoxville, I went to the airport, and cashed it in for a ticket to Portland, where I lived. When I got there, I called Campbell and said “I refuse to report to Knoxville and I am retiring from baseball.” And that’s what happened.

Pat Batcheller: Why did you come back?

Mickey Lolich: I got involved in pitching in an amateur game for a local team, my neighborhood team. I pitched relief one night for them. I struck out 16 guys in five innings—the catcher missed a pitch and I had to get the next guy. The headlines hit the paper, and went back east to Jim Campbell. He said, “Are you ready to go to Knoxville?” I said, “I told you I’m not going.” He said, “Well, I made a deal with the Portland team,” which happened to be a Kansas City Athletics affiliate at the time. Campbell said, “they would like to buy you, and I refused to sell you. But I will loan you out to Portland, your hometown team, and you can pitch there if you’ll agree to that.” And I said, “OK, I’ll play there.”

And that year I ran into a pitching coach for the Portland team by the name of Jerry Staley, a guy that happened to pitch once for Detroit. And he taught me how to throw the sinking fastball. I never had a sinker, I was just a hard thrower. And it changed my whole life. The next year, I went to spring training with the Detroit Tigers, the big club. I pitched 18 scoreless innings in spring training, but I didn’t make the club. Jim Campbell had to show me he was still the boss. He sent me to Syracuse, where I was for about a month. Frank Lary got hurt on Opening Day and they sent him to Knoxville—I felt sorry for the guy. They told me I was coming up for 30 days to fill in for Frank Lary, and then I’d go back to the minors. Well, that didn’t quite work out. 16 years later, I officially retired from baseball.

Looking back at the ’68 World Series, baseball today

Pat Batcheller: In your research for the book, you had a chance to watch replays of the 1968 World Series on YouTube. What do you notice now when you watch games that you pitched that you didn’t notice or didn’t remember before?

Mickey Lolich: Well, first off, it’s the first time I’ve seen replays of the World Series. I’d never seen it. We watched all seven games. The thing I noticed, referring to me, is that I was taught the first three pitches you throw, two have to be strikes. You go right after the hitters. Today, they nibble at the corners way too much. And another thing I noticed was I used to finish games and today, they don’t. They’re geared to pitch six innings and that’s it. Baseball has changed a lot.

Pat Batcheller: Do you watch baseball now?

Mickey Lolich: Yeah, I watch it. I follow the Tigers, you know, to see what’s going on, win or lose. This year’s been a losing season, but don’t worry, they’re rebuilding. We’ll see how long that takes. 

Pat Batcheller: Those who talk about the 1968 World Series often talk about how badly Detroit needed something to feel good about after the riots the year before and how the Tigers gave them that. Many of the problems that existed 50 years ago are still here today. Detroit has not yet fully healed. But you had no way of knowing back in 1968 what 2018 would be like. Do you still feel as if you and your teammates did something good for Detroit?

Mickey Lolich: Yeah, we all believe we did something good. I remember there were some police officers who worked at Tiger Stadium. One of them told me that in 1967, you’d see three fellas standing on a street corner, and they were looking for trouble. How they knew, I don’t know, I guess police officers can sense things like that. And then they said in 1968, you’d see the same three guys standing on the street corner and they had a transistor radio up to their ears and were listening to Tiger ballgames. And they’d say, “We think you guys prevented anything from happening again in the summer of ’68.” Now that’s what I was told, and I’m glad I can believe them.

Pat Batcheller: And you were there, of course…

Returning to Detroit

Mickey Lolich: The city of Detroit has come back a lot. The downtown area, you can see all the buildings that have gone up and the jobs that are down there. I’m glad Detroit’s coming back.

Pat Batcheller: You were at the 50th anniversary celebration at Comerica Park. How did it feel to be back with your teammates and in uniform?

Mickey Lolich: Well, I’m glad I didn’t have to pitch. It was a wonderful weekend for us. I have to congratulate the Tigers on doing it first-class. It was wonderful to see the players that I played with. We were all wearing baseball hats, and on those hats, were the numbers and initials of all the Tigers that were on the ’68 team who have passed away. So in our own little way, we’re paying tribute to our former teammates who couldn’t be there on that Saturday. It was done right, and I really enjoyed it.

The Michigan Department of Transportation has big plans for I-94 in western Wayne County. 

Crews will rebuild and repair the freeway between I-275 and Michigan Ave. at the Detroit-Dearborn city limits. 

MDOT project engineer Bill Erben says the work will start with clearing shoulders and medians in February. Erben says that includes removing some trees.

“For every tree that we cut, we replace trees at the end,” he says.

February weather is notoriously unpredictable, so the timing is important—especially for wildlife.

“There’s a prohibition on cutting trees during the season that’s conducive to bats mating,” Erben says. “So, we have to get the tree removal done from an environmental standpoint.”

Reconstruction and rehabilitation

Erben says the Restore 94 project has two main components—rebuilding and repairing.

“We start just to the east of Wayne Road and it’s all-new pavement through Beech Daly,” he says. “And then there’s significant section of pavement on westbound 94 from Southfield to the [Ford] Rouge [complex] that will get replaced as well.”

Between I-275 and Michigan Ave., MDOT will install five new bridges and create a new interchange at Ecorse Rd.

Spokesperson Diane Cross says drivers will have access to Metro Airport at all times.

“Drivers will always have I-275, which we redid in the last couple of years,” she says. “If we’re working at Merriman Rd., we’ll make sure Middle Belt Rd. is open and vice versa.”

Getting around it won’t be easy

MDOT plans to shift traffic from one side of the freeway to the other, starting with the westbound lanes. That will reduce traffic from six lanes to four. Erben says the goal is to keep traffic moving on 94 throughout the project.

“There will be local detours, but the bulk of the project is to try to maintain traffic on the freeway,” he says. “We’ll have temporary ramps that will carry traffic from one side to the other.”

The three-year project will affect homes and businesses along 94 in Allen Park, Dearborn, Dearborn Heights, Melvindale, Romulus and Taylor. That includes the Ford Rouge complex.

Erben says he’s listening to stakeholders. “We’ve met with Ford already, we’ve met with the mayor of Taylor,” he says. “We’re going to do whatever we can to keep that line of communication open.”

Toward that end, MDOT has two public meetings on the project. The first takes place at 1 p.m. on Feb. 2 at the Allen Park Department of Public Services on West Outer Drive. The second happens at 4 p.m. on Feb. 11 at Taylor City Hall on Goddard. 

The owners of the Detroit Free Press plan to acquire the Detroit News.

USA Today‘s announcement comes less than a month after Michigan’s largest daily newspapers ended a joint operating agreement they entered in 1989.

The Free Press was failing at the time. The JOA allowed both papers to maintain separate newsrooms while combining other parts of their businesses such as printing.

The JOA ended in December 2025. Shortly thereafter, the News announced plans to print its first separate Sunday edition in 36 years. Then it delayed the Sunday paper rollout a few days before USA Today’s takeover announcement.

What happens now?

USA Today CEO Mike Reed says the company will continue to publish separate editions. But for how long?

Bill Shea is a writer based in Hazel Park. He wrote about the city’s newspapers for Crain’s Detroit Business for more than a decade. He also worked for USA Today’s predecessor, Gannett. Shea says before they became partners, the papers were fierce competitors.

“These newsrooms used to have hundreds and hundreds of people in all the various roles,” he says. “Reporters, editors, photographers, copy editors…the whole gamut.”

But as technology changed, so did readers’ habits.

“Customers no longer wanted print as much as they used to,” Shea says.

Both papers have a strong online presence. Shea says that will allow them to stay the course editorially in the short term.

“They both get a lot of eyeballs digitally,” he says. “Maintaining separate newsrooms to keep that up is probably the path for now.”

Is a one-paper town inevitable?

But Shea warns that the new owners might lay off reporters to maximize profits.

“I fully expect to hear the crappy corporate-speak of ‘finding efficiencies to better serve our readers and partners,’ which just means job cuts,” he says.

Shea says fewer journalists means fewer stories to cover. He says that would hurt readers, too.

“Because you’re losing out on that vital storytelling in an age where we absolutely need…as many people as possible telling these stories, holding power and capital accountable,” he says.

USA Today said it expected to close the deal before the end of January. It would not say how much it’s paying to acquire the News or whether it will follow through with a separate Sunday edition.

Detroit’s automakers have scaled back electric vehicle production due to sluggish sales and other factors.

Benchmark Mineral Intelligence says overall EV sales in the U.S. grew by 1% in 2025. That includes plug-in hybrids.

Political pressure hasn’t helped. President Donald Trump favors internal combustion engines and rolled back his predecessor’s push to build more EVs. He rescinded higher fuel economy standards and tried to block federal funding for EV charging stations.

Congress eliminated the $7,500 tax credit for EV buyers, giving consumers less incentive to purchase one.

Despite that, EV advocates see better days ahead.

EVs enjoy high customer satisfaction

Jennifer Mefford is the director of business development for Powering Michigan’s Future. It’s a partnership between the National Electrical Contractors Association and International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 58.

Mefford says customer satisfaction gives her hope.

“EV owners love their EVs,” she says. “And the technology is very sound and developed.”

Mefford notes that the market has already survived some ups and downs.

“We had a big resurgence when GM launched the Volt, and then the market kind of went flat,” she says.  “I think we’re poised very well because the technology is there, the battery development is there, and the charging infrastructure is there.”

EVs are still visible

Powering Michigan’s Future has a display at the 2026 Detroit Auto Show. Mefford says it’s there to answer people’s questions about electric vehicles. She says the questions most people have are about charging them.

“80% of your charging is going to be done at home,” she says. “What are the cost considerations for that? Do they want to hook into DTE Energy’s charging rates? How does it work when they’re out in public spaces?”

Mefford says Michigan has done a good job building out its EV charging infrastructure.

“It’s all new equipment,” she says. “It’s very reliable and it’s really quite user-friendly.”

In the early days, EVs suffered from limited range. Mefford says that, too, has gotten better.

“You have a group of vehicles in the 240 to 320-mile range,” she says. “I think ranges are always going to get better, batteries are much more efficient, and costs are coming down.”

But Mefford admits Michigan and the U.S. have a long way to go to catch China, where EV sales grew 17% in 2025.

Is it time to rewrite Michigan’s constitution? Voters will answer that question in 2026.

A ballot proposal asks whether state residents want to call a constitutional convention. The last one happened in 1961. Voters approved a new constitution in 1962.

By law, the issue must appear on the ballot every 16 years. Voters rejected convention calls in 1978, 1994, and 2010.

Justin Long is an associate professor at Wayne State University’s School of Law. He’s an expert on state constitutions, including Michigan’s. He says the 16-year cycle gives voters time to think about how state government works and whether to change it.

“The thought was if there’s something seriously wrong with the structure of state government, it’ll take us a few years to figure it out,” he says. We’ll give it a try for a few years, and by 16 years, it’s time to decide whether it’s working or not.”

What does it say?

Proposal 1 will appear on the November 2026 ballot as follows:

A PROPOSAL TO CONVENE A CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION FOR THE PURPOSE OF DRAFTING A GENERAL REVISION OF THE STATE CONSTITUTION

Shall a convention of elected delegates be convened in 2027 to draft a general revision of the State Constitution for presentation to the state’s voters for their approval or rejection?

Voters can either say “yes” or “no.”

It’s not a popular question

So why haven’t voters felt the need to call for a new convention in over 60 years? Long says caution may be one reason.

“I think neither political party [Democratic or Republican] feels assured that they’ll be able to control the convention, because delegates are elected directly by the people,” he says. “And the delegates would presumably know that if they did anything too wild, the voters wouldn’t pass it.”

That said, delegates could either tweak parts of the constitution or rewrite the entire document. For example, Long says they could decide which offices get elected and which ones don’t.

“They could decide whether we want to have two houses of the Legislature or just one,” he says. “They’re basically unfettered at that point.”

What happens at a ConCon?

If voters do call for a constitutional convention, another election would take place within six months. Long says that’s when voters would choose delegates.

“There’d be one delegate elected from every House district and one from every Senate district,” he says. “They would then hire staff, and then they would meet and debate.”

Long says once the delegates have drafted a new constitution, they submit it to the voters.

“And that vote would be by a simple majority,” he says.

If voters say no to a constitutional convention this year, it wouldn’t come up again until 2042.

Want to add some vigor to your vocabulary in 2026? Wayne State University can help you with that.

Every year, a group of “Word Warriors” publish a list of words that people don’t use much anymore, hoping to revive them.

It’s a counterpoint to Lake Superior State University‘s annual “banished words” list.

Chris Williams works in WSU’s Communications and Marketing Department. He says both lists have one thing in common: nominations from people who love language.

“I’ve received submissions from as far as Australia,” he says. “We have Word Warriors everywhere.”

Williams says the list celebrates the joy and precision of language.

“We don’t want to deny people to use words,” he says.

What do they mean?

The 17th Word Warriors list follows with definitions and ways to use them in a sentence:

Abnegate – To renounce or reject (something desired or valuable). “He abnegated the family inheritance to make a name for himself on his own.”

Abscond – To leave hurriedly and secretly, typically to avoid detection of or arrest for an unlawful action such as theft. “The burglar absconded with the money before anyone noticed he’d entered the house.”

Coterie – A small group of people with shared interests or tastes, especially one that is exclusive of other people. “He retreated to an online chat room, where he could be surrounded by a coterie of fellow enthusiasts.”

Fluckadrift – Excessive speed or urgency of movement or action. “The kids spent most of the summer day rotting around the house but moved with a frantic fluckadrift to straighten things up once they knew Mom was on her way home from the office.”

Gudgeon – A person who is easily fooled; a gullible person. “The gudgeon believed almost everything he was told, no matter how improbable.”

Inchoate – Something just begun and so not fully formed or developed; rudimentary. “The inchoate organization was a mess of squabbling and confusion as the members learned how to work with each other.”

Psithurism – A rustling or whispering sound, such as leaves in the wind; susurration. “He left his earbuds at home and took a long walk in the woods, the blathering of podcasts replaced by the soothing soundtrack provided by the psithurism in the trees.”

Quanked – Overpowered by fatigue; exhausted or having one’s energy consumed. “After spending all of his Thanksgiving weekend managing the demands of customers, he was positively quanked and slept for 12 hours.”

Snoutfair – Having an attractive or pleasing face. “His character might leave much to be desired, but his snoutfair appearance made him a hit on TV.”

Swullocking – Overwhelmingly hot, boiling and humid weather. “He stepped outside, bracing himself for the swullocking August day.”

Anyone can submit a word

Williams says the Word Warriors are always looking for suggestions.

“Anyone who has access to our website can submit a word,” he says. “Every Monday, we post a new word.”

Lake Superior State University has the perfect way to celebrate 2026, by banishing the word “perfect” and nine other terms from the English language.

The school in Sault Ste. Marie, MI has collected submissions from around the world since publishing its first “banished words” list in 1976. 

What started as a fun New Year’s Eve party suggestion has become an annual tradition.

University President David Travis says faculty members sifted through 1,400 submissions to curate its 50th list.

“What they look for are classic examples of overuse, misuse, and simply words that are useless,” he says. “And they come up with the top ten.”

The judges don’t limit their choices to words. They also consider choice phrases, such as “6-7,” which caught on in 2025.

Dr. Travis says “6-7” has no clear definition.

“It’s simply a fun word that people get excited about when they see the two numbers together,” he says.

Let’s get cooking

Here’s the complete list for 2025, with comments from people who nominated them:

1. 6-7 (six seven): “There are six or seven reasons why this phrase needs to be stopped,” says Paul E. from Wisconsin. The volume of submissions for this one could have taken up the whole list, at least slots 6-7. Scott T. from Utah adds, “it’s time for “6-7” to be 86’ed.”
2. Demure: “It’s very said more than very done, and we’re all very done hearing it!” remarks Tammy S. Often used in the phrase ‘very demure, very mindful,’ Madison C. shares that the overuse “waters down the real meaning.”
3. Cooked: “Hearing it…my brain feels ‘cooked,’” groans Zac A. from Virginia. Parents and guardians led the charge on this one, with some feeling this isn’t enough.
4. Massive: “Way overused! (often incorrectly),” exclaim Don and Gail K. from Minnesota. This word’s massive overuse has secured its place on this year’s list.
5. Incentivize: In the longstanding effort to turn nouns into verbs, this is another culprit. Two separate submissions likened hearing this word to “nails on a chalkboard.”
6. Full stop: “For the same reason ‘period’ was banished…redundant punctuation,” explains Marybeth A. from Oregon.
7. Perfect: “There are very few instances when the word actually applies,” notes Jo H. from California.
8. Gift/gifted (as a verb): “I found this on the 1994 list, but it will make me feel better to recommend that it be included once again,” reveals James S. from Oklahoma. Another case of a noun being used as a verb.
9. My bad: In the 1998 banishment, Elizabeth P. from Michigan suggested, “students and adults sound infantile when using this to apologize.”
10. Reach out: First banished in 1994, this saying has strayed from the positive message it once intended to deliver. “What started as a phrase with emotional support overtones has now become absurdly overused,” asserts Kevin B. from the United Kingdom.

It’s all in fun

The good news is no one’s going to arrest you if you use any of these words or phrases. Dr. Travis says it’s supposed to be tongue-in-cheek. But he admits not everyone takes it that way.

“We sometimes get a nasty letter from someone saying, ‘I refuse to stop saying that word,'” he says. “And we just kind of smile and chuckle because they thought we were being really serious.”

The Great Lakes Water Authority has started building a new tunnel in southwest Detroit. The project will divert excess stormwater from a large sewer line along the Rouge River to a retention and treatment basin nearby.

Potential to address a longstanding problem

GLWA Chief Operating Officer Navid Mehram says the tunnel will reduce the risk of flooding. Additionally, it should mean fewer basement sewage backups during heavy rain. “We’re making an investment in our existing system by rerouting some flows, so that we can leverage an existing facility that wasn’t receiving all the flow it can treat,” Mehram says.

The tunnel will be almost 4,000 feet long and several feet wide. Nehram says GLWA expects to finish the job in 2028. “Our projects are very large,” he says. “This is a tunneling project, which is extremely complicated.” Besides reducing sewage backups, Mehram says the project will also make the system more resilient to heavy rain. “This not only provides us with water quality improvements along the Rouge River, but it can also provide a backup for our Water Resource Recovery Facility,” he says.

Who’s paying for it?

The project will cost $87 million. Mehram says GLWA will use both government grants and sewer rate revenues to pay for it. He says it will not increase customers’ bills.