Cleveland looks to make a Detroit run
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by Oneflydude
The Detroit Tigers, who were a favorite to win the AL Central this year unfortunally didn't accomplish that goal. The Tigers season came to an end last night even though they beat the Minnesota Twins in 6 innings due to rain. Bruce Froemming, who was honored for umpiring his last game, called the game off on a 1-2 count with two outs in the top of the 6th inning with Jason Grilli on the mound.
It didn't matter. The New York Yankees beat the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, 12-4, giving the Yankees their 13 consecutive postseason appearence. This season wasn't as succesful as the magical run that the Tigers had last year. On the other side, the Cleveland Indians are doing everything the Tigers did last year. They have a great rotation featuring two Cy Young canidates, Fausto Carmona and C.C. Sabathia, and another decent arm in Paul Byrd. This trio was similar to the trio last year for the Tigers, Kenny Rogers, Justin Verlander and the decent Jeremy Bonderman.
Its not really a magical season for Cleveland this year as it was for the Tigers last year because the Indians didn't have all of the losing seasons the Tigers had, but the Indians are having the same luck as the Tigers. Cleveland has had walk-offs galore this year and they've had some amazing come from behind victories, one coming against the Tigers. Yeah, its easy to say that pitching has been one of Detroits problems this year, but thats taking the easy way out. The Tigers had a better lineup than the Indians. Detroit had a better team batting average, more runs and better on-base percentage than Cleveland. One thing, Cleveland is in the playoffs. But the Tigers had injuries on their pitching staff which caused them to make a lot off call ups.
Cleveland, well they're just the opposite. They've had a consistent roster all season long which is how they've worked themselves into the postseason this year. The Tigers were on top of the world before the All-Star break with the best record in the league. They led the MLB in a handful of offensive categories, they had four All-Stars and they had just swept the Boston Red Sox. After the All-star break, the Tigers were nowhere to be found. They were on pace to 100 wins but they couldn't get it together. The Indians have been playing solid all year long, pre and post All-star break.
Now the Indians are currently battling for home field advantage for the playoffs. Looks like Eric Wedfe is this years Jim Leyland. As Eric Wedge's Indians look to make a run for the World Series, Jim Leyland and his Tigers will be watching at home, realizing that their lack of bite, bit them back.
