It's the (second) most wonderful time of the (baseball) year

Welcome back, hope Thanksgiving treated everyone well, and let's get to it. A-Rod, head-butts, and the ALCS are on tap today. Ice cold as always.

Fine. I’ll pile on too. Alex Rodriguez is terribly un-clutch. I don’t know, but I have to assume Tom Hicks didn’t know about A-Rod’s playoff track record when he gave him $250 million. But maybe he knew just a little more than the rest of us did when he dealt A-Rod to the Evil Empire/New York Yankees. Impressive as A-Rod’s 1-for-14 hitting in the American League Division Series was, it pales in comparison to his errors-per-defensive chances numbers, where he erred at a .083 clip -- a whole 12 points higher than his .071 batting average in the ALDS. I know I can error once every 12 tries at the Major League level, and I’m pretty sure I could gain one base in 14 at-bats, so where’s my money? Oh, and. Joe Torre is one of the best managers the big leagues have ever seen, while Lou Piniella is a circus. If the Torre-out, Piniella-in rumours are true, the Yankees will regret it for a long time.

Next, I’m sorry I ignored the Division Series in favour of the hockey write-ups. Now that they’re out of the way, I can focus on the League Championship Series.

Very quick soccer note here. I’m not too good with Italian translations, but Does Marco Materazzi’s name translate loosely to “whore?” I’m so sure this guy’s written a book listing 248 things he may have said to Zidane to provoke the world’s most famous head-butt, and the one actual quip. Maybe Materazzi just translates to something that starts with the letter C and rhymes with bunt. Back to the baseball

Now I know everyone had Oakland and Detroit before the season started, but who would ever have guessed St. Louis had a chance?

It is entirely possible I’m giving the Tigers too much credit for beating a loaded Yankees team, but at this point, I’ve got to think they’re the new favourites to win the World Series.

Tigers pitchers stepped up and answered every question being lobbed around about them, while shutting down one of the most dangerous batting lineups the modern era’s ever seen. When was the last time a team’s number nine batter challenged for the batting crown the way New York’s Robinson Cano did this year? Oakland’s trio of Barry Zito, Esteban Loaiza and Rich Harden are no slouches, and will probably represent a tougher challenge for Detroit’s batters than the Yankees’ starters did. They too shut down an impressive batting lineup, which included the American League batting champ and RBI leader.

If everything defensive in this game starts with pitching, the Tigers have a pretty solid guy next in line, with Pudge Rodriguez behind the dish. He’s probably a Hall of Fame catcher, and he led his pitching staff beautifully through the first round of the playoffs. There is no reason to believe he can’t do it against Oakland. Here, the A’s have an answer as well in Jason Kendall. While Kendall’s bat isn’t what it used to be, he is still among the best defensive catchers in the game, and can still call a game.

On the corners, it doesn’t get much better than Oakland’s Nick Swisher and Eric Chavez, though Chavez seems to have some playoff demons to slay. Both are in the top third of the American League both defensively, and offensively. They’re countered by Detroit’s Sean Casey and Brandon Inge. Casey is steady as they come defensively, but his batting average has dropped nearly 90 points since coming over from Pittsburgh, and Inge’s 22 errors this season were second only to Alex Rodriguez in the American League.

In the middle, Marco Scutaro and Mark Ellis are an underrated tandem who combined for just 11 errors this season. They both bat around .270, which pales in comparison to Detroit’s .300 hitters in Carlos Guillen and Placido Polanco. But Detroit seemed to have trouble turning double plays against the Yankees, and the A’s will jump all over those opportunities if Polanco can’t find the range.

Detroit has an edge in the outfield as not many players cover more ground than Curtis Granderson, while Magglio Ordonez and Craig Monroe provide the muscle. This is a balanced group that won’t hurt the Tigers’ chances to win ballgames. On the other side, you never know what’s going to happen when Milton Bradley’s around. But the A’s have a very understated cast in the outfield. They don’t take many chances, and they get the job done pretty quietly.

At DH, Marcus Thames can’t hold a candle to Frank Thomas. Thomas found the fountain of youth somewhere between his World Series ring in South Chicago last autumn, and the A’s spring training facility this spring. David Ortiz was the only better DH this season.

In the end, Detroit just seems to have too many bats to lose this series. Oakland is probably a better defensive team, and the pitching is essentially a wash, so it comes down to bats. And home field? Forget it. Neither team has been this far in the playoffs since before the strike in 1994 so the fans are going to be rabid in both parks (assuming they actually show up in Oakland). Don’t be surprised at all if we see the away teams win games one and three. And like all the experts, this guy’s going with a long series: Tigers in six.