Tigers Breakdown

With a 7-0 lead now and the bases loaded in the 3rd inning of game number 7, I am pretty comfortable in previewing the Detroit Tigers. Since they are soon to be our opposition and not the Cardinals, I figured I would help out my followers who may not follow much of the American League.

The Tigers made some noise this past offseason when they surprised the baseball world by signing Prince Fielder to hit behind Miguel Cabrera (who won the triple crown this year). Many predicted that they would be here but for much of the year they looked like a major letdown. Honestly, I don't really feel like they earned their playoff birth as much as the White Sox gave it to them with a mini collapse in September. Well, they have made the most of it and they have played remarkably well this postseason.

In the first round, they had an awesome 5 game series against the A's that they really only survived because of the incredible arm of Justin Verlander who picked up 2 of their 3 wins in the series. They then went on to play the Yankees and were nothing short of dominant in sweeping out the evil empire. This postseason they have dominated with their starting pitching. Much like most of the regular season, their bats have not performed up to their career resumes but they still deserve a ton of respect. The big weakness, that we will have to try to feast upon, is in their bullpen.

Most, if not all, of you are probably aware of the issues that their closer Jose Valverde has had this postseason. He is not the only arm that you can take advantage of out of their pen that has had some issues this year. Their top setup man, Joaquin Benoit gave up 14 homeruns this year and they don't feature a late inning pitcher with an era under 3.50. Simply put, they should be easier to touch up than the Cardinal starters and certainly will be a break once you get the starters out of the game.

The two key players that I think you may want to watch out for, as Giants fans, are Austin Jackson and Al Alburquerque. Austin Jackson is a very solid leadoff guy, much like Angel Pagan, who is a power speed threat and he can really set a good tone for a middle of the order you will not want to take on with runners in scoring position. Alburquerque missed much of the year with an arm injury but he has certainly put that behind him. He is a hard thrower with a killer slider who has 85 strikeouts in 57 big league innings. With the issues they have had with their other relievers, and the trouble the Giants just had against the hard throwers out of the Cardinals pen, Alburquerque could play a big part in the World Series.

So, now you know a little more about our next opponent. Let's go Giants.