By Josh R:
When I first started thinking about what this World Series would be like I immediately thought about the pitching on both teams. Verlander and Fister for the Tigers up against Cain, Vogelsong and Bumgarner for the Giants. Game 1 kind of surprised me. With Verlander on the mound, who I put in the top three most dominating pitchers in baseball with Felix Hernandez and Roy Halladay, I truly expected a final score of 1-0 or 2-1 at the highest. To see an 8-3 score caught me off guard and I began to wonder if pitching was going to be important but not the main factor.
Game 2 has restored my faith in this World Series as a pitchers series. Both Doug Fister and Madison Bumgarner were dominating on the mound. This is exactly what I was expecting in every game this series.
Even though game 2 was much more of what I expected I did learn a few things about both teams that I think will play a huge factor the rest of the series.
Detroit’s Offense
We always hear how the American League is the stronger offensive league and I would agree with that. However, for a team that paid a ton of money to bring in Prince Fielder and has the first player to win the Triple Crown in some 50 years in Miguel Cabrera, the Tigers offense looks mediocre at best. I know Jim Leyland says he isn’t worried but being down 2 games to none and just being shut out would be a concern for me.
Detroit’s Bullpen
Before the series started I had no doubts that the Giants bullpen was the stronger of the two bullpens but I’m starting to believe that the gap between the two bullpens is bigger than I initially thought. The Giants just need to have one goal in every game from this point forward, keep the game close until you get to the Tigers bullpen.
Giants Offense
The mark of a championship team is that they get the job done when the time calls for it and that is what the Giants offense has done this postseason. A winning team doesn’t need every player to hit .400 during the series. It just needs players to get hits in the right situations. Hunter Pence has not been a strong hitter in the postseason but his hit last night against Fister came at the perfect time. Just like his weird hit in the NLCS that hit the bat 3 times, timing is everything in a 7 game series.
Random Fact
Did you know the team that has had the most Hall of Famers play at least one game with that organization in history is the Giants with 50 Hall of Famers. I heard that on the Dan Patrick Show and thought it was really interesting.
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