I suppose you can read that headline one of two ways: 1) Placido Polanco should be back in the Tigers' lineup tomorrow, after a MRI exam found no structural damage in his aching back. 2) Polanco's back itself is the story. Is it okay? Will it force him to the disabled list?
(A possible third option would be 3) Yes, we get it, Ian. Thank you for insulting us. Do you think we are goobers? Are you still hungover from your sister's wedding? Has all the shrimp and grits you've been eating in Charleston clogged your brain function?)
With the clean exam, doctors prescribed Polanco some medication to alleviate the pain and stiffness he's been dealing with, which leaves his status as "day-to-day." If he feels okay tomorrow, Jim Leyland will pencil him into the lineup.
I don't know what meds they gave Polanco for his back, but if they're anything like the stuff I got when I hurt my back last November, he ought to be feeling really good at game time tomorrow. Or he'll be completely zonked out. But for me, that may have been me taking too much medication to deny the additional pain of having to pass on seeing Bruce Springsteen because I could barely move. I imagine Polanco will be monitored a bit more closely by professionals.
Now we await the story on Gary Sheffield and his trick shoulder.