So things are not\u00c2\u00a0going quite the way we expected them to for the AL Central race.\u00c2\u00a0 Most Tigers fans would have loved to seen this race sewn up weeks ago; but alas, this is not the case.\u00c2\u00a0 We hold a 2 game lead over the Evil Empire (Twinkies) for the AL Central Crown with 3 games left in the season.\u00c2\u00a0 Hopes are high in the Motor City – but fear is too.<\/p>\n
A few questions were posed to me earlier today and I thought for once instead of a personal reflection piece – I would get down and dirty and talk actual baseball. Yes, I can… and I will…<\/p>\n
The Tigers have a lot of faults this season, but they also have a few strengths mixed among them.\u00c2\u00a0 Most notably their starting pitching.\u00c2\u00a0 Justin Verlander has been lights out this season and has proven not only to the front office but to the fans as well, that he truly is the ace of the staff.\u00c2\u00a0 This is a breath of fresh air considering the season he had last year… 11-17 with a 4.84 ERA.\u00c2\u00a0 A far cry from his current 18-9 3.45 ERA.\u00c2\u00a0 Justin has been lights out – scary dominant when he hits the mound at game time.\u00c2\u00a0 Hopefully we can keep this rolling into the post season (fingers crossed).\u00c2\u00a0 Championships are won with stellar starting pitching and strong defense.\u00c2\u00a0 The Tigers have excelled in both of these areas this season.<\/p>\n
On the flip side of this, my biggest fear for the post season is that the season long struggling offense will continue.\u00c2\u00a0 The Tigers get hits, they just get little clusters of them and none of them in clutch situations for runs.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s feast or famine for the kitties… we win games 12-2 or we loose them 9-1.\u00c2\u00a0 If one bat is hot, the others follow suit, but getting that one bat going seems to have been a season long challenge.\u00c2\u00a0 Most recently the bats of Carlos Guillen and Magglio Ordonez have come around and have been productive.\u00c2\u00a0 It couldn’t have come at a better time with the post season less than 6 days away.<\/p>\n
Post season rosters will be set soon, and I sure do think it would be a shame if Ramon Santiago was left off.\u00c2\u00a0 He is a great middle infielder who can sub superbly for Polanco at 2nd or Everett at SS.\u00c2\u00a0 He offers the team flexibility and the ability to give some veterans a little bit of a breather. I think the odds of him being left off the post season roster are slim, but I have seen stranger things happen.\u00c2\u00a0 On the flip side to this, I would be surprised to see Armando Galarraga’s name on the post season roster.\u00c2\u00a0 He was a stable corner in the starting rotation last year, but this has been a year of ups and downs for Armando.\u00c2\u00a0 His command was not there this year.\u00c2\u00a0 Due to a sore pitching elbow, he hasn’t toted the rubber since late August although still appearing on the 40 man roster.<\/p>\n
All in all, I think the Tigers have an excellent chance of making it to the World Series.\u00c2\u00a0 If they make it to the dance, their first opponents will be the yankees… ugh, the yankees.\u00c2\u00a0 I like to keep alive the memory of the rousting the Tigers gave the yankees in 2006 in the ALDS.\u00c2\u00a0 But a few things have to fall in line.\u00c2\u00a0 First of all, defensively Verlander has to stay the ace.\u00c2\u00a0 If his performance falters in the post season, the team will crumble around him.\u00c2\u00a0 On the offense, Miguel Cabrera has to stay the steady\u00c2\u00a0 and intimidating opposing stick (.329 for the season).\u00c2\u00a0 His bat picks up other bats like Ordonez, Guillen, Polanco and Inge.<\/p>\n
I think the heat that the Tigers faced with the Twins will help them in the post season.\u00c2\u00a0 For the Tigers, the post season started 3 weeks ago.\u00c2\u00a0 It has been an up and down struggle for the month of September and by feeling the heat then, the Tigers are primed and ready for the post season.\u00c2\u00a0 In 2006 the Tigers had over a week of lay off time between the ALCS and the World Series.\u00c2\u00a0 Some will say that this hurt them, I tend to agree.\u00c2\u00a0 Being that they have had to fight and claw their way into the post season, they are warmed up and primed to push forward, win Detroit a Division, League and World Series Title.<\/p>\n
Detroit citizens need it, they deserve it, and the Tigers want to give it to them. I couldn’t think of a better situation or position to be in.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
So things are not\u00c2\u00a0going quite the way we expected them to for the AL Central race.\u00c2\u00a0 Most Tigers fans would have loved to seen this race sewn up weeks ago; but alas, this is not the case.\u00c2\u00a0 We hold a 2 game lead over the Evil Empire (Twinkies) for the AL Central Crown with 3 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":352,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1655","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1655","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/352"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1655"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1655\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1655"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1655"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1655"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}