Detroit Tigers (Wild Card) vs. New York Yankees (East Division)
Season Meetings: New York won 5, Detroit won 2
A week ago the Tigers had a shot at winning home field advantage throughout the playoffs. They won't have it in the first two rounds.
Detroit's Central Division collapse set up a meeting with the most expensive team in sports. New York hasn't won a championship since 2000, and that's way too long a drought for George Steinbrenner.
The Yankees might be throwing their best lineup since Bernie Williams was dominant. But they're facing a rock solid pitching staff that can consistently take a team into the seventh inning.
Pure fans of baseball will love this series because of the chess match between mangers Joe Torre and Jim Leyland. They are two of the three World Series-winning managers left in this postseason, and it will be tough to blame either one of these fellows, whoever loses.
Game 1: Chien-Ming Wang makes his playoff debut for the Yankees, as does Nate Robertson for the Tigers. Although Wang's ERA is over a fifth of a point lower than Robertson's (3.63 vs. 2.84), the other numbers are very similar, except for win-loss. Robertson is notorious for getting practically no run support, and that may be the case again in this game.
Game 2: Mike Mussina has been here before. Justin Verlander has probably watched this before. Somehow Detroit needs to maintain its free-swinging mentality yet not whiff and look silly on Mussina's signature knuckle curve. I have no friggin' clue how this will be possible.
Game 3: Metamucil alert. Randy Johnson squares off against Kenny Rogers as postseason baseball returns to Michigan. Rogers has had poor postseason pitching, while Randy Johnson is looking more like Jason Johnson these days. It appears that his stiff back (and that's a VERY BIG back) will not prevent him from pitching in this game, meaning Detroit needs to tee off against the future Hall of Famer in this game. Most people concede this could be the only game the Tigers win in the series.
Census: I haven't seen one expert pick the Tigers. Not. One. Even the poll at the Tiger-friendly blog Bless You Boys, in which 26 people voted, is a 50-50 split.
Enough Stallin'. What's my guess? I can't do it. I know I should do it, but it's not in me. I'm afraid we'll have to go with: Tigers in 4. Come on, guys, you know you want to see the Yankees drop another first round series.
Article comments
1 - Chris Beaumont
OK, here we go:
Yankees in 3
Twins in 4
Mets in 4
Padres in 5
Also, you will not get the Glavine/Maddux matchup, Dodgers are putting Kuo on the mound in game 2.
2 - Matthew T. Sussman
This is troubling news indeed.
3 - Victor Lana
Suss, the Yanks (and their minions) love sticking it to the Mets, so figure they'll be around a while. Still, I'd love to see the Tigers grind their bones to make their bread (just to give Steingrubber nightmares).
4 - Donnie Marler
LaRussa has decided to go with Weaver in the second game!
5 - Matthew T. Sussman
And now Orlando Hernandez is out for Game 1. Victor, I know the name of a good headache medicine.
6 - Chris Beaumont
Well, he won't be confirmed out until re-eval in the AM. The ball will probably go to John Maine.
Welcome to the real bigs Mainey, do us proud!
7 - Ruvy in Jerusalem
You mean you guys think the Twinkies will make it to the top of the Central Division. Nu, if they win the World Series, I'll say "miracles can happen."
8 - Chris Beaumont
Well, dont worry about that, they aren't going to the WS, and if they do, they will lose.
9 - RJ Elliott
For the record, I thought the Yankees would win in 4...but I'm glad they didn't!!! :-)