Justin Lovell, Sports Editor
Baseball is America’s national pastime and the World Series, also known as the Fall Classic, holds the most important baseball games played all year. This year, the 108th edition of the series will be played between the Detroit Tigers and San Francisco Giants. Since the NL beat the AL in the All-Star game this summer, home field advantage belongs to the Giants. The series starts tonight and could run a whole week, with a potential Game 7 being played November 1. The Tigers and Giants have fought hard all season to get here and neither wants a loss to define their season, but that is always a possibility in the postseason.
The Detroit Tigers’ World Series journey began last offseason when they made a huge move by signing first baseman Prince Fielder to a nine-year, 214 million dollar contract. With Fielder, Miguel Cabrera and Justin Verlander, the Tigers had huge expectations this season, including making it to the World Series.
During the regular season, the Tigers struggled and at one point were six games under .500, but they never gave up. This skilled team was finally able to get everything clicking and ended up winning the AL Central convincingly. Now after surviving the A’s in the ALDS and absolutely smoking the AL East Champion New York Yankees in four games during the ALCS, the Tigers are ready to add another World Series trophy to their collection.
On the other side, the San Francisco Giants have mighty expectations as well. After a World Series title in 2010, the team regressed last year and missed the playoffs. This year the team came back stronger than ever. They finished the regular season with a 94-68 record and were lead by their ace Matt Cain, who in June threw only the 22nd perfect game in MLB history. In the beginning of the playoffs in the NLDS, the Giants came back from 2-0 down against the Cincinnati Reds to win the series 3-2 and then just yesterday, the Giants again completed a miraculous comeback in front of their home fans against the St. Louis Cardinals. The Giants were down 3-1 in the series but with their amazing pitching were able to comeback and win the last three to take the series 4-3. As a Red Sox fan, I know how essential getting hot at the right time is in the playoffs, so don’t expect this run the Giants have been on to be a fluke.
The 108th World Series will be a competitive series this year without a doubt, the Tigers and Giants both look unstoppable right now. Verlander is playing at his 2011 MVP status again, add in the play of 2012 MVP front runner and triple crown winner Cabrera and the huge bat of Fielder, the Tigers are stacked all-around. Meanwhile, the Giants have just completed back to back comeback series wins against great teams, so while they might not have the huge bat the Tigers have, they are a force to be reckoned with for sure. However, all that being said, I still expect the Tigers to add their first World Series title since 1984 this year and expect one of their big three to win World Series MVP as well. The longer the series lasts, the better chance Verlander has to win it, since it will mean he would pitch more, but it is more likely that Cabrera will add a World Series MVP to his already expansive list of achievements. The Tigers will win this series in 6.
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