A position-by-position breakdown of the Oakland-Detroit playoff series, with the two-time division-winning Tigers facing the Cinderella, no-name Athletics.
CATCHER: Alex Avila/Gerald Laird vs. Derek Norris/George Kottaras
A year ago, Avila was coming off an All-Star season, but entered the 2011 postseason completely out of gas due to Victor Martinez's knee injury. This season, he's struggled offensively — hitting .243 with just nine homers — but he has gotten a lot more rest thanks to Gerald Laird. Laird, or G-Money as he has dubbed himself, is hardly a power hitter, but his .282 batting average will get him some starts against left-handed pitchers.
Derek Norris and George Kottaras are both low-average hitters with a little bit of pop in their bats.
ADVANTAGE: Even having slipped badly off last year's heights, Avila is still the best in the group and Laird provides the Tigers with a nice platoon option.
FIRST BASE: Prince Fielder vs. Brandon Moss
You probably know the Fielder story. He wasn't even a sparkle in Dave Dombrowski's eye until Martinez's fluke knee injury, but then he came to the Tigers for over $200 million. He's done everything Detroit could have asked, playing all 162 games and hitting .313 with 30 homers, 108 RBIs and 85 walks. That meant Miguel Cabrera saw a lot more strikes this season, and we all know how that turned out.
Moss is the left-handed hitting side of a platoon with Chris Carter. Between them, they combined for 37 homers and 91 RBIs, but Moss will see most of the time in this series because of Detroit's right-handed rotation. Whichever one plays will be one of the most dangerous hitters in the Oakland lineup.
ADVANTAGE: Moss and Carter are a nice combination, but Fielder is one of the best hitters in baseball.
SECOND BASE: Omar Infante vs. Cliff Pennington
Infante, who played for the Tigers in the 2006 World Series, came back to Detroit in a midseason trade with Miami. He hasn't provided the offensive production that the Tigers hoped for, though he was better than any combination of Ryan Raburn, Danny Worth and Jeff Baker. Defensively, Infante has struggled badly turning double plays, a problem that could come back to haunt Detroit in the postseason.
Pennington spent most of the season as Oakland's starting shortstop, but moved to second base when the Athletics acquired Stephen Drew. He's a .215 hitter with very little power, but he is a threat to steal bases. Jemile Weeks has gone from starting at second to possibly not making Oakland's postseason roster.
ADVANTAGE: The Tigers would love to have Infante's bat and Pennington's glove, but if they have to pick one, they will pick the offensive player.
SHORTSTOP: Jhonny Peralta vs. Stephen Drew
Peralta is another of the Tigers hitters who never came close to duplicating his 2011 numbers. He also lost a step in the field, and has had a lot of trouble with his throwing accuracy this year. Still has a little power, with 32 doubles and 13 homers.
The Athletics got Drew in an August trade with Arizona and immediately made him their starting shortstop. Like most of Oakland's players, he hits for a low batting average (.223) and strikes out a lot — 76 times in 79 games between Oakland and Arizona. He's a far cry from the player that got MVP votes in 2008 and was supposed to be a star in the making.
ADVANTAGE: Once again, Oakland has better defense, but Peralta at least offers some threat with the bat.
THIRD BASE: Miguel Cabrera vs. Josh Donaldson.
Cabrera doesn't play third base very well, and he's not a great baserunner. No one cares, since he just won the first major-league Triple Crown since Omar Vizquel was in diapers. Cabrera had an amazing season and carried the Tigers in August and September when they were trying to play themselves out of the AL Central race.
Donaldson took over the third-base job when Brandon Inge was lost for the season with a shoulder injury. Donaldson is another Oakland player with a low average and decent power, but he won't scare Tigers fans as much as Inge. Inge would have probably gone 3-for-25 in the series, but all three hits would have been grand slams.
ADVANTAGE: You're kidding, right?
LEFT FIELD: Quentin Berry vs. Coco Crisp.
Berry finally made it to the majors this year, after a long minor-league career, and immediately sparked the Tigers while Austin Jackson was hurt. He came back to Earth pretty quickly, but gives Detroit more speed at the top of the order, and is the team's best baserunner. He set an American League record this season by stealing 21 bases without being caught. Andy Dirks will play left against left-handed pitching, with Avisail Garcia in right.
Crisp struggled with a terrible case of pink-eye late in the season, but he's pretty much the same guy that the Tigers have seen for years. Not a great hitter, decent pop in his bat and a ton of speed. Stole 39 bases in 43 attempts and, unlike almost all of his teammates, doesn't strike out.
ADVANTAGE: Similar players, but Berry isn't as good a defensive player as his reputation and doesn't have any power. Oakland gets this one.
CENTER FIELD: Austin Jackson vs. Yoenis Cespedes.
Jackson saved his career by making some adjustments to his swing, and has gone from an offensive liability back to the player the Tigers expected when they got him from New York. Two hits in the last game of the season gave him a .300 batting average, but the more important numbers are a .377 on-base percentage atop the Tigers batting order and a .479 slugging percentage. He's also one of the best defensive centerfielders in baseball, and will battle Mike Trout for the Gold Glove.
Cespedes is one of the truly fun stories of 2012. The Cuban defector broke into the public eye with a bizarre YouTube video that showed off his incredible talent and workout regimes, then surprised everyone by signing with Oakland instead of the Yankees, Rangers or Red Sox. He's still raw, but on pure talent alone, he hit .292 with 23 homers.
ADVANTAGE: Tigers, but Cespedes can turn a game around in a hurry in the batter's box, on the basepaths and in the field.
RIGHT FIELD: Andy Dirks vs. Josh Reddick.
This will be split between Dirks and Garcia for Detroit. Dirks struggled with an Achilles' tendon injury, but hit .322 with a .370 on-base percentage in his 88 games. He should probably be hitting second against left-handers, although Jim Leyland has tended to go with Infante instead. Garcia is just 21 and is considered a prospect, but he's inherited Brennan Boesch's playing time down the stretch. He is hitting .319 in his first month in the majors, but is still looking for his first extra-base hit.
Reddick is the closest thing the A's have to an everyday star. Actually, given the fact that he played 156 games and no one else played more than 125, he's the closest thing they even have to an everyday player. He led Oakland with 32 homers and 85 RBIs, but like most of their players, he has a low average (.242) and a lot of strikeouts (151).
ADVANTAGE: Dirks has given the Tigers energy and offensive production that they didn't expect, but he won't always be in right, while Reddick is the centerpiece of the Oakland offense.
DESIGNATED HITTER: Delmon Young vs. Jonny Gomes.
Young had a rough year on the field, and his arrest in New York had many people wondering if he'd even be part of the team by October. Without any better options, though, he ended up playing 151 games. He showed some signs of life late in the season, and the Tigers still remember his epic series against the Yankees last fall.
Gomes platoons with Seth Smith at designated hitter, giving Oakland ... yes, you guessed it, a low-average, high-strikeout combination with good power. Gomes has had the better year, hitting 18 homers with a slugging percentage near .500.
ADVANTAGE: If Young can do anything like he did last year against New York, it gives the Detroit offense a lot more depth, but until he shows more signs of recovery, this is an edge for Gomes and Smith.
STARTING PITCHING: Justin Verlander/Doug Fister/Max Scherzer/Anibal Sanchez vs. Jarrod Parker/Brett Anderson/Tommy Milone/A.J. Griffin.
On paper, the Tigers have the best four-man rotation in the postseason. Verlander's probably headed for a second straight Cy Young Award, Fister and Scherzer have been fantastic since the All-Star break and Sanchez has turned it around down the stretch. They've been good enough that Rick Porcello has gone from a fixture in Detroit's rotation to probably not even making the postseason roster. The big question mark is Scherzer's health. He's had problems with shoulder fatigue in September, but looked good in a short start on the last day of the season.
Oakland hasn't actually had a starting rotation for most of the season — Bob Melvin has just thrown anyone who looked healthy out on the mound. They actually finished the season with five rookies in their rotation, a first for a postseason team. The only reason they won't have an all-rookie rotation against the Tigers is that they expect Brett Anderson to return from an oblique injury suffered last month in Detroit. The A's also lost Brandon McCarthy when he was nearly killed by a line drive off his head. Fortunately, he has recovered enough that he will make the trip to Detroit, and could pitch later in the postseason if Oakland advances.
ADVANTAGE: The Tigers have all the experience and Oakland's high-strikeout offense is tailor-made for Verlander, Fister and Scherzer. Milone, Parker and Griffin have pitched well, especially for rookies, but the A's will miss the experience of McCarthy and Bartolo Colon (drug suspension) in the postseason.
CLOSER: Jose Valverde vs. Grant Balfour.
The Great Potato followed up his magical 51-for-51 season by blowing a save on Opening Day, and he hasn't exactly been lights-out all year. He walks more batters than a closer should, and his 3.78 ERA is about a run too high, but he still managed 35 saves.
Grant Balfour brings The Rage. One of the weirdest sights in the 2012 season is a stadium full of Oakland fans wildly swinging their fists in mock fury when Balfour comes into a game. He's only got 24 saves, but his 2.53 ERA and 0.924 WHIP are both vastly superior to Valverde.
ADVANTAGE: Balfour has never had the reputation as a big-time closer — he had 10 career saves before the season — but the Aussie has been great for Oakland. Valverde usually gets the job done, but most managers would prefer Balfour's rage to the Potato's high-wire act.
BULLPEN: Joaquin Benoit/Octavio Dotel/Al Alburquerque vs. Ryan Cook/Jerry Blevins/Sean Doolittle.
If Tigers fans get nervous when Valverde comes into a game, they are downright terrified when the rest of the bullpen is needed. Benoit will be reliable for weeks at a time, then go through a 10-day stretch where every hit he allows goes 450 feet. Phil Coke has been ineffective and Brayan Villarreal's late-season struggles have probably knocked him off the playoff roster, so the middle innings will be turned over to the ancient Dotel and the returning Alburquerque. Even though Alburquerque only pitched in eight games because of offseason surgery, Leyland has already shown more trust in him that in almost any other reliever on the team.
Oakland couldn't be more different than Detroit, as they can run young reliever after young reliever at the Tigers in the late innings of games. Cook is a superb set-up man, with a 2.09 ERA and 14 saves of his own, while Blevins, Doolittle and Jordan Norberto have all pitched well in the middle innings.
ADVANTAGE: This is probably Oakland's biggest advantage at any position. Unlike the Tigers, the Athletics don't have to count on their starters pitching seven or eight innings to give them a chance.
PREDICTION: The A's have overperformed all season, while the Tigers have underperformed. However, due to baseball's unfair playoff formatting this season, not only have the Tigers had a chance to rest while Oakland was fighting to win the division, they get the first two games at home. As good as they have been at Comerica Park, and with Verlander and Fister pitching on plenty of rest, the Tigers have to think they have a real chance of going to Oakland up 2-0 and then having three shots to steal a series-clincher, including Verlander in Game 5. Oakland's had a magical season, but things are stacked against them here. TIGERS IN 4.
