Giants Look To Muffle Tigers’ Roar: The 2012 World Series
Search for Sports Apps! It’s here. The timeless Fall Classic. The 108th World Series.
This year’s edition pits the now-roaring Detroit Tigers against the never-out-of-it San Francisco Giants. Though it is the 19th appearance in the championship series for the Giants’ franchise and the 11th for the Tigers, they have never been here at the same time.
The Giants have home field advantage, thanks to this year’s NL victory in the All-Star game. They are currently riding a 3-game winning streak that ousted the St.Louis Cardinals from post season competition. They have won 6 elimination games this year and seem to exude poise and confidence, even in the face of potential season-ending disaster.
The Tigers have had a week to rest after sweeping the New York Yankees in the ALCS. They own a 5 game winning streak, dating back to the game 5 clincher over the Oakland A’s in the ALDS.
The Tigers’ pitching has been lights out with a 1.74 combined ERA in their 9 postseason games. The starters have been even better with an ERA of 1.02.
The Giants’ staff has amassed a 3.36 ERA in the postseason, a bit better than their regular season mark of 3.68 – coming up big when it has counted most.
The Tigers have hit .271 in the postseason – the Giants, .234.
The Giants have Buster Posey (NL batting champ), Matt Cain, Marco Scutaro and a suddenly revitalized Barry Zito. The Tigers have Justin Verlander, triple-crown winner Miguel Cabrera and Prince Fielder.
Both teams are on a roll at exactly the right time – the Tigers after catching the Chicago White Sox at the tail end of the season, the Giants after tussling to leapfrog the Dodgers before catching fire late.
The numbers suggest that the Tigers could end this series in short order. But the Giants do not seem to know how to go away.
Will Marco Scutaro continue his torrid pace that helped upend the Cards? Will the Tigers’ pitching continue to dominate? And who will be the X-factor to step up and swing the series? It’s postseason baseball – look for something unexpected.
Despite the stats, this should be a highly entertaining series. The feeling here is that the Giants will find a way to hang around and extend it to 6, maybe even 7, games. In the end, however, it will be too much Verlander and Cabrera – and a Motown celebration.
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