The San Francisco Giants completed a 3-1 series comeback to win the NLCS on Monday night with a 9-0 win over the defending champion St. Louis Cardinals in Game Seven. This would have been a shocking result if the Giants had not came back from 2-0 down in their NLDS series with the Cincinatti Reds just mere weeks ago, forcing the Giants to win three straight games on the road just to get to the National League Championship Series.
Clutch pitching from unlikely heroes like Barry Zito, one of the most maligned pitchers in recent history who wasn't even on the 2010 Giants World Series roster, has seen the Giants come back from the brink in two straight series to become the National League's representative in the World Series.
The American League representative's route to the World Series was a bit less nerve racking, but the Tigers still needed to survive an epic collapse from their closer Jose Velverde and win a road game five in the ALDS before sweeping the New York Yankees in such a convincing fashion that the narrative at the end of the series wasn't about the Tigers chances of winning the World Series, but just how badly outplayed the Yankees were in the four game sweep.
Now comes the fun stuff. American League Vs. National League. DH Vs. No DH. All of the fun of the World Series is the fact that these teams don't see each other all season save for a small sample size of a potential matchup in interleague play. What makes this even more intriguing is that we really don't know what San Francisco Giants team we are going to get, or if the Tigers pitching is the reason they swept the Yankees or if it was the epic collapses of the Yankees star players and the injury of Derek Jeter that made the Tigers look so dominant.
So where can we actually start in matching up these two teams? In terms of pitching, the Tigers probably have the edge. Justin Verlander is likely the best player in baseball when he is on the mound and the rest of the Tigers rotation performed admirably in their series' with the Oakland Athletics and in the aforementioned Yankees series. The Giants have the flashy names of Matt Cain, Vogelsong, Zito, Lincecum, and closer Sergio Romo, but the Tigers starters haven't really came out with a bad start yet and with Phil Coke emerging as a reliable rally killer, it looks like the only weakness of the Tigers pitching staff has been solved.
In terms of batting, the Tigers lineup is probably the best in baseball. Miguel Cbrera won the AL Triple Crown this season, achieving a feat many thought would never be achieved again. Prince Fielder and Delmon Young provide home run power and protect Cabrera from being intentionally walked. A Cabrera-Fielder order in any inning is a nightmare for any opposing pitcher as the Yankees found out in extra innings of Game One in the ALCS. The Giants have former Blue Jay Marco Scutaro who is on fire and solid hitters Buster Posey, Pablo Sandoval and Hunter Pence, but the Tigers star players have delivered all season and will provide them with the runs needed to allow the Tigers pitching to earn the victories.
Obviously the Giants have advantages of their own that can't be measured on paper as they have the momentum of their comeback wins over the past week while the Tigers have been sitting at home, but the Giants did have similar momentum heading into playing the Cardinals at home in the NLCS and managed to open up the series with a 3-1 hole. The Giants won't be able to afford to give the Tigers three straight elimination games as the Giants didn't make those comebacks with Justin Verlander on the mound and Miguel Cabrera and Prince Fielder in the lineup.
The Giants are a good baseball team and deserve to be where they are, but their inconsistency has me in a spot where I can't see them winning against a steady team like the Tigers. If the Giants come out like they have in elimination games this postseason, they have the argument that nobody can stop them, but on the days where that momentum isn't coming, they are very beatable, especially against a ballclub that is every bit as good as they are.
This series on paper should go to the Tigers, but everything we have seen in the playoffs this October has shown us that the paper should be thrown away the minute the Giants are involved. I am leaning with the Tigers winning the World Series in six very entertaining games on the back of some reliable starting pitching and Justin Verlander wins in Games One and Five, but as we have witnessed, anything can happen when the San Francisco Giants get hot. Either way the next two weeks will be a deserving end to what has been an entertaining year of baseball.
