Look, I've already broken down the teams for the LCS matchups. In a nutshell, Detroit's easily got the hitting edge but Pittsburgh's got all of the pitching, and the best news is, this is going to truly be a best-vs-best matchup this year; two sweeps means no 79 or 81 win teams playing to get slaughtered.
By the way, Danny Villegas won the ALCS MVP award for his 7-15 performance with a HR and 2 RBIs. It was a pretty low scoring series, given how good the Tigers are supposed to be offensively, but it was over too quickly for any of the starting pitching to go twice so it had to go to a hitter, I guess, and Villegas was as good as anybody (maybe I'd have gone with the JOKER Jose Ayala, who was 5-14 with 1 run and 3 RBIs and more to the point seemed to come through in the clutch a lot... but then again, so did Danny V). The NLCS MVP was the hero of Game 3, Hank Williams Jr., who wound up leading all hitters in either series with 5 RBIs, 3 of them on the last pitch he faced. He was "only" 3-10 and both Arturo Ganzalez and Henry Riggs had more hits than he did (both guys went 5-12) but the award makes sense anyway.
So, a brief look into these teams' histories. This is Detroit's first ever taste of the playoffs. They are a lifetime .479 team and finished dead last in the AL 6 times in league history, which goes back to 1946. These guys have more or less been the weak sisters of the AL, at least before 1969. In '69 they finished 91-71, which was only good for 3rd place and 13 1/2 games behind the division champion Cleveland Indians. After slumping to 70-92 in '70, they rebounded to 92-70 last year, which unfortunately for them, best record in team history or no, was still 10 games behind what Boston did. 1972 saw now only the team's first division championship but the most wins in franchise history (95) and far and away the best record in terms of winning percentage.
The Pirates don't quite have the history of being sad sacks in the 50s and 60s that the Tigers do, although they did bottom out at 54-100 in 1961, the year before the NL expanded. They've had a winning record each of the past 3 years, including a a postseason berth in 1970. That year they were swept by a young and seemingly up and coming Reds team; this year, they returned the favor to the Braves. The Pirates just baaaaaarely missed having the greatest pitching season of all time. They finished with a 2.51 team ERA; the White Sox in 1968 as well as the San Francisco Giants that same year each finished with 2.50 ERAs. That's crazy and this year was (slightly) higher scoring that '68 so in reality, adjusted for the era, this was the GOAT. I should say defense, since the Bucs also finished 1st in the NL in defensive efficiency (.752) and zone rating (+47.7). Both Henry Villar and Brian Jackson were over +10 in ZR (which yes, I know is not a 1972 stat but the point is, you would just notice those guys being awesome IRL). Speaking of which, I think I said that Doug Connally is not known for a great arm in the recap - well, maybe he should be. He's thrown out 40% or more guys in 5 of his 7 years in the majors and even threw out 52.2% in 1967.
News
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October 11: The case of Roe v Wade is argued before the US Supreme Court, after having first being argued the previous December in front of 7 judges. While the initial opinion by Justice Harry Blackmun had only found that the laws against abortion that were challenged in the case to be "unconstitutionally vague", the revised 1973 opinion will go further in declaring most restrictions against the right to choice to be unconstitutional.
October 11: The World Hockey Association opens its first season in Ottawa as the Alberta Oilers defeat the Ottawa Nationals 7-4 before a crowd of 5,006 and a Canadian national television audience. Ron Anderson of the Oilers scores the first goal in WHA history. The other WHA game tonight features the Cleveland Crusaders vs the Quebec Nordiques; the Crusaders eke it out 2-0.
October 11: Claudia Black, the Australian actress who played Aeryn Sun in "Farscape", is born in Sydney.
October 12: A brawl on board the aircraft carrier USS Kitty Hawk results in 46 people being injured. About 100 black and white sailors fight for hours with knives, forks, and cains before it's broken up by Marines. A report will be issued weeks later that blames the deal starting on a sailor asking for two sandwiches at the ship's mess hall but being given only one. Reading between the lines, it was almost certainly racially motivated but I guess the Navy was better at keeping the clamps down on this back then. Eventually, 25 men, only one of whom was white, will be charged with anything. 23 black sailors will be convicted on charges of assault or allowed to plead to lesser offenses, with charges dismissed against one African-American sailor and the lone white sailor charged being acquitted after a court-martial.
October 12: Portugese troops invade Senegal in West Africa, believed to be housing the rebel group Accao Revolucionaria Armada, in an action condemned by the UN Security Council.
October 12: OKAY so we're starting the World Series on a Thursday this year. Both of these teams... well, read above. Edgar Molina goes for the Tigers against DJ Cheeves: both #1s. We're opening at Three Rivers, where 51,732 fans are out to see their boys try to take home game 1. It's a cold one - 42 degrees - with the wind blowing out to center at 10mph. And given the fact that the other team is Detroit, we ain't getting any warmer.
Top 1st: Alvin Romero draws a leadoff walk. Curran grounds to the first baseman Arturo Ganzalez, who gets it to 2nd for a 3-6 fielder's choice; it's way too slowly hit to be a double play. Ramone singles up the middle. We've got runners on 1st and 2nd with 1 out. Danny Villegas singles to right; Curran beats the throw home and boom, it's a 1-0 game! Ahhhh jeeeez. DJ Cheeves is injured on the play. He'll come out. Danny Perez (15-8, 3.04) comes in to relieve him and be the team's kind-of starter now. Perez is a guy who tries to rely on his defense for the big outs. Even though only 49% of hits outs came on the ground this year, he is considered a groundball guy and did get 17 DPs turned behind him. His main pitch is a cut fastball that tops out at around 90. He actually has pretty decent stamina but only completed 4 of 25 games this year because the Pirates have Paz Lemus.
Perez's first pitch is low and inside and Doug Connally has to do work to keep it in front of him. Bad sign! A better sign is that Frankie Faison hits a grounder at 2B Tyler Webster, who turns a 4-6-3 double play to retire the side. 1-0, Tigers.
Bottom 1st: Hearl grounds out 6-3. Villar strikes out on 3 pitches. Brian Jackson laces a 2-out single to left. Lawson takes it to a full count and then strikes out looking. 1-0, Tigers.
Top 2nd: Ayala grounds out to short. Danny Hohman hits one down the first base line but a little bit too softly; Arturo Ganzalez picks it and races to the bag to retire him. Farinelli flies into left to retire the side. 1-0, Tigers.
Bottom 2nd: Webster pops it up straight in the air; C Gianluigi Farinelli catches it in foul territory. Ganzalez grounds out to 3rd. Williams Jr. hits a roller to 2nd that Joey Ramone picks up and throws to first for a 1-2-3 inning. 1-0, Tigers.
Top 3rd: Edgar Molina strikes out looking at a 1-2 slider. Romero lines out to first base. Rob Curran drops a 2 out single up the middle, the first base hit against Danny Perez. Joey Ramone gets the 2-out rally going; he hits a ball into the ground that I guess hits a crease in the astroturf and completely dies before Danny Perez can get to it. Danny Villegas hits a smash to first base. Arturo Ganzalez makes a diving stop to keep it from going into right field but can't get up and complete the throw to Perez covering first in time. Two straight infield hits, and the bases are loaded. I guess to be fair (TO BE FAAAAAAAAAAAIR) to Ganzalez, that diving stop probably saved a run. And that's meaningful because Frankie Faison hits it right at 2B Tyler Webster in the next at-bat; the inning ends with a 4-3 putout. 1-0, Tigers.
Bottom 3rd: Connally grounds out 4-3. Danny Perez strikes out. He's actually a decent hitter for a pitcher, which is to say he hit .250 this year (15-60) and has a lifetime .209 average. Justin Hearl hits a slow grounder towards shortstop; Rob Curran gets to it and throws him out by a step. 1-2-3 3rd, 1-0 Tigers.
Top 4th: Ayala grounds out 5-3. Danny Hohman goes with a pitch several inches out of the zone and slaps it into left for a single. Farinelli is jammed on a 1-1 slider; he goes inside-out with it and flies out to right. Molina flies to right. 1-0, Tigers.
Bottom 4th: Villar checks his swing on a 2-2 pitch but the ump rules that it's over the plate for strike 3 anyway. That's Molina's 4th strikeout today. Brian Jackson's got the only base hit off of him so far tonight. He hits a line drive to left but right in the vicinity of Danny Hohman, who only has to move a few steps to catch it for the out. Justin Lawson hits a fly into center that's also handled easily by Alvin Romero. Another 1-2-3 inning and it's still 1-0, Tigers.
Top 5th: Romero flies to left; he's now hitting only .176 in the postseason. Rob Curran goes down swinging on an 0-2 cut fastball. Joey Ramone grounds to short to retire the side. 1-0, Tigers.
Bottom 5th: Webster pops out into foul territory on the third base side; Jose Ayala is there to pull it down for out number 1. Ganzalez swings and misses at a low-90s fastball that is in the dirt. Was he trying to get to first that way? He just about does, except that Gianluigi Farinelli is able to track it down and throw him out K2-3. Hank Williams Jr. grounds out 3-1. Molina's retired the last 13 batters in a row. 1-0, Tigers.
Top 6th: Villegas watches a knuckle curve dance over the strike zone. Score it a backwards K, Danny Perez's 3rd on the day. Faison gets a base hit up the middle. Ayala walks. That's the first base on balls for either side and it puts a runner into scoring position with less than 2 out. And this is why that's important... Danny Hohman rips one back up the middle and Frankie Faison slides in ahead of the throw home by Justin Hearl. It's a 2-0 ballgame! Jose Ayala is slow as molasses and so stays put at 2nd even on the throw. Farinelli takes abig old cut at a 2-2 cutter but finds air for out #2. Edgar Molina, who had nearly half of his lifetime 25 hits this season (11), steps up. He veeeery nearly gets one but Justin Hearl makes a diving catch for out #3. 2-0, Tigers.
Bottom 6th: Molina's been on cruise control lately and is now facing the 8-9-1 guys. He walks Connally to break up his consecutive hitters retired streak; it's also his first walk of the game. Danny Perez has been great today in long relief with 5.2 innings with just a run allowed but it's time to bring in a pinch-hitter. Dr. Jack comes in because of the platoon and because of memories of him being able to hit, once upon a time. He connects with the first pitch and flies out to short left field. Molina strikes out Hearl on a 3-2 fastball that rises into the mid-90s. On a 0-2 pitch, Molina drops a forkball into the dirt. It gets past Farinelli and all the way to the backstop. Connally, slow as he might be, still gets to 2nd on the play. Molina recovers to strike out Henry Villar to retire the side. 2-0, Tigers.
Top 7th: I'll go ahead and bring Brian Bruno into this for the 2nd time in the postseason. Lemus is available but there's no point in giving him 3 innings in a 2 score game. 2 innings? Maybe. Romero flies to right. Rob Curran hits a towering popup to the right side of the infield that Tyler Webster pulls down for the out. Joey Ramonse strikes out swinging to retire the side. 2-0, Tigers.
Bottom 7th: Brian Jackson grounds out to Rob Curran at short. Lawson tries driving the outside slider the other way but flies to right. Webster flies out to Romero in center and it's yet another 1-2-3 inning for the Bucs. 2-0, Tigers.
Top 8th: Bruno's staying in; with the 6-7-8 guys due up next inning I'll try to save Lemus for the 9th (or extras if there's a comeback). Danny Villegas flies to center. Bruno walks Frankie Faison on 4 straight pitches, none of them particularly close to the zone. Is he ready to go? Ayala's a righty so I'll leave him in. He induces the Joker to hit a pop foul next to the Pirates dugout that 1B Arturo Ganzalez handles easily for out #2. Now with Danny Hohman up, 2-3 game or no, I'll leave Bruno in to save the pen. He hits a soft liner to Tyler Webster to retire the side. 2-0, Tigers.
Bottom 8th: Ganzalez slams a hard grounder right down the 3rd base line and into the corner for a leadoff double. That's the first truly hard-hit ball off of Molina all game. Hank Williams Jr. hits a pretty hard grounder himself but it's right at 1B Danny Villegas, who takes it to the bag himself. Ganzalez gets to 3rd base on the play. I'll leave Doug Connally in to hit here. The Tigers were prepared to trade the run for the out but they won't have to; Connally hits it to Ayala at 3rd and he's able to keep Ganzalez rooted on the bag as he throws the catcher out, 5-3. The only lefty hitter on the bench is the backup catcher Miklos Nemeth so instead I'll turn to Mike Jackson to make his 2nd appearance of the postseason. He hits a nice looking grounder on the left side of 2nd base... but Rob Curran makes the diving stop, gets up, and throws to first for out #3! 2-0, Tigers.
Top 9th: Paz Lemus comes on in to try and keep this close. He's due to face the 8-9-1 hitters but pinch-hitting for Gianluigi Farinelli, who's hitting only .154 in the postseason, is young 1B Nikki Lauda. Lauda hits a solid line drive into right field for a base hit... and Brian Jackson has problems picking it up! The ball gets past him and Lauda steams into 2nd base. Call it rust and score it a single and an E-9. Molina has thrown only 90 pitches and wants to stay in for the shutout. He had 6 of those in the regular season. He executes a solid bunt down the third base line. Hank Williams Jr. snatches it up and throws to Tyler Webster covering 1st but Lauda is in at 3rd with 1 out and the leadoff man Alvin Romero due up. They walk Romero to set up the double play, which tells me that maybe the Pittsburgh AI hasn't scouted this team very well? Sure enough, Romero is off and running on the very first pitch; Doug Connally drops the pitch and can't even make a throw to stop him. Rob Curran hits a grounder to 2nd... Tyler Webster goes home with it! No play! Nikki Lauda is safe under the tag and it's a 3-0 game! Romero gets to 3rd and of course Curran himself is safe at first base. Joey Ramone pops out to 2nd base for the 2nd out of the inning. And Danny Villegas PUTS THE GAME AWAY WITH A HOME RUN TO LEFT! Man, I was just about to say, Paz Lemus wasn't even looking that bad this inning but that 1-2 curve just hung right where Villegas could hit it. 6-0, Tigers. Frankie Faison singles up the middle and I think I'm going to take Lemus out to save him for another day, one batter left or not.
With a righty up, the new guy is sidearming specialist Kent Tekulve (0-3, 2.91). Yes, I imported him. It's my save, I can do what I want! I always enjoyed his game although as with not-Joe-Niekro I had to goose up his Stuff a little bit (and when I import the Quiz because I will absolutely be importing the Quiz I will need to do the same). He got into 23 games this year, pitched 34 innings, and held hitters to a still-decent .244 average in spite of only striking out 3.7/9. Tekulve keeps the ball down and is really good against righties with that almost-underhanded delivery of his. He gets the Joker to ground to 2nd for what should be the final out of the inning... buut Henry Villar commits the Pirates' 2nd error of the inning and both runners are safe. That brings up lefty Danny Hohman. Tekulve yielded a .270 average vs lefties but at this point it's a 6 run game so he'll get the final out. Hohman pops out to Tyler Webster for the final out but not before the Tigers break it open, 6-0.
Bottom 9th: Jonathan House, a perfectly adequate fielder for a backstop, takes over for Farinelli. The Tigers used Trey Forgey for most of the season but Forgey hit like .165 (I can't check right now because he's not on the playoff roster) so even though House seems like he's forgotten how to hit since being pretty decent with Cleveland in '69 and '70, he's still their #2 man. Edgar Molina of course will try and finish this and ideally get his first-ever postseason shutout. Justin Hearl's not going to make it so easy for him; he hits a Texas Leaguer into left-center for a leadoff single. Villar hits it towards 2nd for a 6-4 forceout; Hearl breaks up the double play and stops it in its tracks. Brian Jackson, trying to atone for his fielding sins, hits a scorcher to 2nd that the normally sure-handed Joey Ramone can't handle. Score it a base hit; the Pirates have runners on 1st and 2nd now. Lawson singles into right. Henry Villar can't quite get home with it but that loads the bases with just one out. Can Molina get out of this mess? The short answer is NO BECAUSE TYLER WEBSTER JUST WENT YARD! THE GRAND SALAMI PUTS THE PIRATES BACK INTO THE GAME! 6-4!
And with that, Molina leaves in favor of Alex Madrigal, now making his 2nd postseason appearance. Ganzalez hits a single and wow, all of the sudden Pittsburgh's gone from dead to having the tying run at the plate in the form of Hank Williams Jr. He flies to center. With 2 out... man, Doug Connally had a rough year but he hit .293 in September and has been a good hitter in the past. I think he's still the best hitter available so he'll stay in. He pops it up in front of the plate. Jonathan House is there to squeeze it, and the Tigers take one in Pittsburgh, 6-4.
The Pirates' comeback falls short, which, I mean, it's surprising that they even got to 4 runs off of Molina. I guess TBF Molina's big Achilles heel is the longball - he's led the league in HRs allowed in 3 of the last 4 seasons, including 30 this year. Danny Villegas meanwhile continues his mad run with the POTG of Game 1. Oh right, and of course Cheeves leaving the game might be huge in this series; nothing against Clyde Jones and Danny Perez (the two guys who could start in his place) but Cheeves is the possible Cy Young winner.
