ALCS Previews
October 10, 2006 by Geoff Young
Filed under Playoffs
As the Detroit Tigers and Oakland A’s prepare for Game 1 of the ALCS in Oakland on Tuesday evening, I thought we might take a look at some previews that I’ve. Each of these gives a slightly different perspective, so there’s sure to be something that scratches your particular itch:
- Billfer at the venerable Detroit Tigers Weblog looks back at the nine games the Tigers and A’s played during the 2006 regular season. He cites the Tigers’ 4-3 victory over Oakland on April 20 as a true turning point in the season.
- Sal Baxamusa at The Hardball Times breaks down each (expected) pitching matchup in the upcoming series. He reluctantly makes a prediction, picking Oakland in six games.
- Over at The Pastime, it’s all about the umpires. Ryan Armbrust examines the 2006 statistics compiled by pitchers while each of the six umpires in this series were working the plate. He gives ERA, K/9, BB/9, and K/BB, and compares all of them to league average for reference. I don’t know what, if anything, it foretells, but I have to admit, that 5.90 ERA for Jerry Crawford is pretty stunning.
My own thoughts? Well, because I don’t follow either team very closely, I’ll give a lame cop-out answer and say that I expect a tight series. And I have a slight preference for the A’s because they have more ex-Padres and players who grew up in San Diego on their team. Either way, it’ll be nice to watch some good baseball and not stress over the outcome.
Enjoy!
Thanks for the link. I’m not sure how much to make of the umpire stats myself, but I do find it interesting that Jerry Crawford is so far off of the league average in some rates. I’m going to go look at his games umpired, and see if he umped an inordinate amount of games by the Royals or Baltimore…
Being a Mariners fan, I had my fill of the A’s this past season (M’s were 2-17 vs. the A’s).
Having seen a lot of both teams this season, I would have to give the edge to los Tigrés. Both clubs have good pitching. the A’s bullpen is better then the Tigers. The Tigres do a better job with the glove, and they play small ball really well. Very aggressive on the basepaths. That should be the edge they need to advance to the WS.
(ex-New Yorker here has to go with the Mets, all the way)
Ryan: I’m not sure what to make of it myself, but I find the numbers intriguing. My first thought was the Royals as well. I’ll be interested to see what you find.
Mike: Thanks for the info on the Tigers. And I’m with you on the Mets in the NL, mainly because I’ve seen enough of Pujols for one year.