In this year’s American League Championship Series the Detroit Tigers battled the New York Yankees. The Tigers came away with a four-game sweep in a series that most thought would go the full seven games.
The ALCS began on Oct. 13 with Detroit winning 6-4 in 12 innings. The Yanks bats were stifled by young pitcher Drew Smyly, who has had an impressive rookie season with the Tigers. Detroit got a major contribution from Delmon Young, who had a home run and three RBI, including a game winning RBI-double in the 12th.
The Tigers took Game 2 by a 2-0 score. Detroit got a very strong outing from Anibal Sanchez, who was acquired in a trade deadline deal with the Miami Marlins along with infielder Omar Infante. Sanchez went seven innings giving up no runs on just three hits and struck out seven. Smyly and Sanchez showed exactly why many baseball people feel that Detroit’s pitching staff is going to be very good for many years to come.
In Game 3, the Tigers got yet another strong outing from defending AL MVP and Cy Young Justin Verlander on their way to a 2-1 win. Delmon Young hit his second homer of the ALCS and Verlander went 8.1 innings giving up one run on three hits.
Detroit emphatically ended the series and New York’s season with an 8-1 win in Game 4. Detroit got homers from Austin Jackson, Miguel Cabrera, and two from Jhonny Peralta. Delmon Young was named ALCS MVP with two homers and six RBI, which are as many runs as the Yanks scored in the ENTIRE series.
The Tigers will await the winner of the St. Louis Cardinals and San Francisco Giants National League Championship Series, which the Cards now lead 3-1. To be completely honest though, neither St. Louis nor San Fran has the talent or the complete team that Detroit has. So yes, the Tigers are my formal pick to be the 2012 World Champions.
