Both teams had remarkable regular seasons, dominating their respected divisions and then some. Now they meet in the ALCS, familiiar territory for both squads, but who has the edge?
The Red Sox have underwent a worst to first makeover, which has been built off strong pitching, tenacious scrappy hitters and all around grade A team work–no chicken and beer in sight.
For the Tigers, they’ve had the fortune of playing in a relatively easier division, so they’ve had some up and down moments along the way but are surging now. They challenged the A’s in the ALDS in a nail biting 5 game set, a game 4 for the ages and a game 5 which can only be summed up in two words: Justin Verlander.
The scariest thing for the Tigers is not knowing the extent of Miguel Cabrera’s nagging injury, it remains the proverbial pink elephant in the room. Also, another grey area for the Tigers is their vaunted bullpen–which compared to the Red Sox is borderline terrible. But their starting pitchers in Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander are about as big a weapons as they get.
The Red Sox edge is a combination of some steady pitching and just overpowering hitting. In the season series the Red Sox outscored the Tigers 43-35. For the Tigers in the games in the ALDS in which they did not homer they lost, this problem will only be magnified against the Red Sox, who seemingly hit bombs in their sleep.
That’s precisely the kind of edge that usually goes on to determine who wins these series. Also, with the Sox having homefield it’s hard to bet against those bats in a very hitter friendly Fenway.
Prediction: Red Sox beat the Tigers in 5