By Adam Cancryn
The best pitcher in the game, a dangerous lineup and a shrewd manager make the Tigers the easy pick as World Series champs.
[ALSO READ: Joe Schackman on why the Giants will pull out their second title in three years]
When last we left the Detroit Tigers, they were dispatching the 95-win Yankees with an ease rarely seen in recent history. It had been six years since an AL team swept their way to the pennant (coincidentally, it was the '06 Tigers who dispatched the A's in four), during which the American League Championship Series went the distance twice and the other three reached six games.
Yet, this year the ALCS was seemingly over before we even had a chance to settle in. And even more surprising was the way in which it happened: the home-run happy Yankees striding up to the plate, grounding out weakly to short, and retreating to the dugout, bat between legs. New York's lineup of future Hall of Famers, the driving force behind the AL's best team, were left befuddled and frustrated. The series took on an air of inevitability; With the way the Tigers' staff was throwing, it became a bland march toward the requisite number of outs.
Since Detroit punched its ticket to the World Series those oh-so-many days ago, the San Francisco Giants have dominated the baseball world. They fell behind, then clawed back from a 3-1 deficit. Barry Zito channeled his 2002 self and threw a series-saving gem. Marco Scutaro and the rest of San Francisco's band of pokers and slappers refused to let strike three get by them, eventually beating the St. Louis Cardinals at their own game. They now ride into the World Series, backed by the euphoria and expectations that comes with getting all the right breaks at all the right times.
Facing the Tigers, and there is a natural urge to throw out conventional thought and join the merry journey that is the Giants. But in baseball more than in any other sport, it is most often the best team — not the hottest — that wins championships. And the Tigers are the best team by far. It will take them just five games to assert that, thanks to these five distinct advantages:
1. Justin Verlander. The Tigers' ace is perhaps the best all-around pitcher in the game, and nowhere has he proven that more than this postseason. In 24 1/3 innings, he's allowed just two runs while striking out 25, good enough to bury the notion that he's not a big-game starter. He possesses all of the necessary physical skills, but more important is the psychological impact he has on opposing hitters. Verlander can throw his fastball between 91 mph and 100+ mph at any point in the game, disrupting the conventional approach of waiting out an ace until he gets tired in the late innings. No matter the situation, the general feeling is that Verlander is going to dominate. That aura of invincibility is crucial, especially in a series where the Tigers could trot him out two or even three times.
2. Those guys behind Verlander? They're pretty good too. Look closely at Verlander's shadow. Those four athletes huddling there? That's the rest of the Tigers' rotation, each of whom can hold his own against any team. Max Scherzer finished just behind Verlander with 231 strikeouts this year, while Rick Porcello and Doug Fister formed a formidable middle of the rotation. And late addition Anibal Sanchez has allowed two runs in 13 1/3 postseason innings so far, flashing some of the brilliance that he routinely put on display in his six-and-a-half years with the Miami Marlins. The Giants' rotation can't match that depth, and perhaps even worse for them is that they likely won't have to. With Verlander ready to throw as many as three games, the Tigers might be able to pick and choose who to start, leaving the rest to shore up the bullpen.
3. Bullpen saviors. Speaking of shoring up the bullpen, it took manager Jim Leyland little time to figure out how to fix the relief woes that plagued Detroit in the divisional series. Enter Drew Smyly and Phil Coke, who combined to blank the Yankees for eight of the their 39 innings at bat. Coke shouldered the lion's share of the work, pitching in all four games, while Smyly vacated his role as a regular season starter to handle high-leverage situations. With those two available to do anything from long relief to closing, the Tigers' starters can breath much easier when they hand the ball over to the bullpen.
4. Detroit's got some scrappers too. San Francisco is successful because it makes solid contact and excels at not getting out. But what if you were told that so far this postseason, the lowest strikeout rate of the two belongs to the Tigers? Detroit struck out just 21.5% of the time, besting the Giants' 22.2%, and helping propel an offense lacking the usual standout performances from stars Prince Fielder and Miguel Cabrera. The attention will remain on those two boppers, but players like Austin Jackson, Omar Infante and Jhonny Peralta are the ones who grease the wheels and get this lineup going. Expect them to give the Giants' lesser pitchers fits, creating a lot of RBI situations for Fielder and Cabrera.
5. Jim Leyland. It's difficult to quantify a manager's impact on a team or its overall body of work, but a general rule is that the less you think about them, often the better the team is doing. Leyland fits this bill. He doesn't overmanage like a Girardi or a LaRussa, yet is creative in subtle ways. His decisions so far have largely proven correct, with Smyly's increased role in the bullpen serving as his greatest accomplishment. How Leyland now manages late-game situations, and especially the leeway he gives volatile closer Jose Valverde, will play a major role in determining this series. After watching him navigate the ups and downs of this season with unwavering serenity, there is little doubt he will let any game get away from him.
Adam Cancryn is an editor and co-founder of Began in '96.
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