The torch is being passed once again

in New York. Aging stars Derek Jeter,

Alex Rodriguez and Jorge Posada are

passing along the great pinstripe tra-

dition to Robinson Cano, Curtis

Granderson and Brett Gardner,

among others. And like Paul O’Neill,

Tino Martinez and Bernie Williams

before them, the role of postseason

favorite continues. But the Tigers

won four of seven during the regular

season, so winning three of five is not

unrealistic at all. On Opening Day,

the last day of March, Justin Verlan-

der of the Tigers faced CC Sabathia

in New York. It was a marquee

matchup then and it is on the last day

of September. The two teams haven’t

seen each other since May 5, so don’t

read much into the Tigers’ 4-3 season

advantage. Mariano Rivera and Jose

Valverde are the best two closers in

the AL making these contests eight-

inning games.

NEW YORK IN 5

Key for DetroitVerlander, a lock for the Cy Young

award if not the MVP, could get two

starts, but the Tigers must find a way

to win when he’s not on the mound.

Key for New YorkNew York must score runs in bunches.

The Yankees don’t have starting pitch-

ers — not even Sabathia — that can

consistently shut down opponents, so

they must outscore them.

Tiger to WatchDoug Fister, acquired from Seattle at

the trade deadline, will start Game 2

in New York. His last start for the

Mariners was a 4-1 loss at Yankee

Stadium. Fister tossed seven strong

innings and is pitching with much

more confidence with the Tigers.

Yankees to WatchIvan Nova (Game 2 starter) and

Freddy Garcia (Game 3 starter) must

prove they can keep opponents at bay

and pitch deep enough into games to

keep pressure off the bullpen.

This rematch of their ALDS last year

has Tampa Bay thinking revenge and

Texas believing it has unfinished busi-

ness. Last year, the Rangers defeated

the favored Rays in a five-game series

in which the visiting team won all five.

Cliff Lee, no longer with Texas, won

Games 1 and 5. C.J. Wilson, who was

the winner in the Rangers’ Game 2

two-hit shutout last season, is now the

ace. He tossed a shutout on Sept. 6 at

Tampa Bay when he allowed just five

singles and three walks and induced

four double plays. There’s no doubt

the Rays have the best manager in the

postseason, but do they have the best

players? Texas didn’t experience the

drama that the Rays did over the past

week, but the Rangers were winning

pressure-packed games in order to

gain home-field advantage and to

avoid playing the Yankees in the first

round. That provided a reminder of

what postseason baseball feels like.

TEXAS IN 4

Key for Tampa BayLast year the Rangers held Evan Lon-

goria, B.J. Upton and Carl Crawford

to a combined .177 average. Longoria

is still the most feared bat, but the Rays

must provide protection for him in the

lineup. Few managers use their entire

rosters as well as Maddon. He’ll need

contributions from bench players.

Key for TexasThe Rangers acquired relievers Mike

Adams, Koji Uehara and Mike Gon-

zalez during the season with the post-

season in mind. Being able to create

favorable matchups and shorten games

gives Texas a decided advantage.

Rays to WatchIf Upton and Ben Zobrist are able to

create some offense around Longoria,

the Rays can score enough runs to win.

Ranger to WatchNeftali Feliz showed signs of fatigue

during the season. But he threw on

back-to-back days just twice in Sep-

tember, converting all six save opps.

There are six players competing in thisyear’s postseason with as many as 32 ca-reer hits in LDS history. How many of themcan you name?

DETROIT VS. NEW YORK TAMPA BAY VS. TEXAS

Philadelphia is clearly the team to beat

in the National League. And the Car-

dinals appear to be little more than the

first victims along the way to the World

Series. The Phillies have the best pitch-

ing staff in baseball led by Roy Halla-

day, Cliff Lee and Cole Hamels. The

Cardinals counter with Jaime Garcia,

Chris Carpenter and Kyle Lohse. But

there may be more to this series than

meets the eye. Of the six combined

starts against the Phillies by Carpenter,

Garcia and Lohse, they have a 0.90

ERA. Halladay, Lee and Hamels are a

combined 1-3 vs. St. Louis this season.

Does that mean advantage Cardinals?

No, but it encourages you believe there

is a chance. The Phillies are in better

shape health-wise as Matt Holliday

will be limited to pinch-hitting with a

hand injury. Expect high-scoring

games and enough fails by the Red-

birds’ bullpen to allow the Phillies to

march on.

PHILADELPHIA IN 5

Key for St. LouisPitching, pitching, pitching. St. Louis

led the NL in runs scored this season,

but even that wasn’t enough to over-

come the porous bullpen. For the Car-

dinals to win, the starters must give

Tony La Russa at least six innings and

the bullpen must be at its best.

Key for PhiladelphiaThe Phillies rely heavily on their start-

ing pitching. If Halladay, Hamels and

Lee falter, this lineup doesn’t have the

punch to outscore teams as it once did.

Cardinal to WatchAllen Craig can be a hitting machine,

but has no real position and has been

squeezed out of playing time. Filling

in for Holliday in left, Craig will be

asked to do some heavy lifting now.

Phillie to WatchCloser Ryan Madson has been huge

for Philadelphia all season. He’ll be

asked to get big outs in this series and

Albert Pujols is hitless in 11 at-bats

against Madson.

Entering the final day of the regular

season, the Brewers and Diamond-

backs knew they were in the playoffs;

they just didn’t know where they would

be playing, because any of three differ-

ent cities were possible. Milwaukee

earned an extra home game by winning

one more game than Arizona, even

though the D’backs won the regular

season series 4-3. Aces Yovani Gallardo

and Ian Kennedy will start Game 1, and

it’s probably more of a must win for

Arizona than Milwaukee. Even though

they are at home, the Brewers have a

deeper rotation and lineup in order to

overcome a loss by their ace. If

Kennedy loses, the Diamondbacks will

begin to feel a little pressure. Typically,

Milwaukee’s big hits will come from

their No. 3-4 hitters, Ryan Braun and

Prince Fielder. You never know where

big hits are coming from in Arizona.

The Diamondbacks seem to have a dif-

ferent hero every night.

MILWAUKEE IN 4

Key for ArizonaYes, it’s a cliché, but getting strong

starting pitching is paramount for Ari-

zona. In three starts vs. Milwaukee this

season, Kennedy (one start) and Josh

Collmenter didn’t allow an earned run

in 21 innings. This lineup isn’t potent

enough to fall behind early.

Key for MilwaukeeThe top of the lineup must produce for

the Brewers. The first four hitters in the

lineup are batting .292; beyond that it

drops precipitously to .234. The first

positions account for 61% of their runs.

Diamondback to WatchArizona’s lineup needs a consistent

threat, and catcher Miguel Montero

hits the Brewers (.421) better than any

other NL team.

Brewer to WatchRickie Weeks, injured for much of the

season, has been hitting fifth, behind

Fielder. Look for Weeks to have some

opportunities early as Arizona will

show more respect to Prince.

ST. LOUIS VS. PHILADELPHIA ARIZONA VS. MILWAUKEE

0 Hits in 20 at-bats by the Rangers’ Adrian beltre off Tampa Bay closer Kyle Farnsworth. He also has never walked, but has only two strikeouts.

19-8 Record in postseason play of the Philadelphia Phillies over the past three years. The Phillies won the World Series in 2008, lost to the Yankees in the 2009 Fall Classic and were eliminated by the Giants in the NLCS last season.

102 Wins by the Phillies in 2011, a franchise record.

2 Number of teams in the National League that have missed the playoffs every season since 2003. Over the last nine seasons, every team except the Nationals and Pirates have enjoyed a postseason party at least once.

188 Days from the end of the 2011 regular season until Opening Day 2012.

16.1 Strikeouts per nine innings for the Dodgers’ Kenley Jansen, who became the first pitcher (min. 50 inn.) to average more than 16 whiffs per nine innings. He struck out 96 batters in 53.2 innings.

• During a night of baseball on Wednesday thelikes of which the sport has never seen, EvanLongoria hit a home run the likes of which hadnever been seen. His was the first final-day,playoff berth-clinching walk-off longball in anon-play-in game in history. (Delete the “non-play-in” qualifier, and the list expands by justone: “The Shot Heard ‘Round the World.”)

• Hunter Pence, traded from the Houston Astrosto the Philadelphia Phillies in July, became thefirst player to move from a 100-loss team to a100-win team in the same season. The ener-getic rightfielder has become a key componentof the Phillies’ lineup.

• Derek Lowe likely hasn’t pitched his finalgame for the Atlanta Braves, although many At-lanta fans would like to believe that he has. Withone year left on his exorbitant contract, Lowepicked a bad month to tank. September wasmuch kinder to the veteran righthander last sea-son. After going 5-0 with a 1.17 ERA in five Sept.2010 starts, Lowe logged an 0-5 mark with an8.75 ERA in five Sept. 2011 starts.

• The season couldn’t have ended soon enoughfor Adam Dunn of the White Sox. Among hismercurial maladies: From 2004-10, the sluggernever hit fewer than 38 home runs. This seasonin 496 PA, he scored only 36 runs.

• The Cardinals wedged themselves into theplayoffs despite setting an NL record by ground-ing into 169 double plays. (The Red Sox holddown six of the 10 top spots in major leagueannals.) Tony La Russa called this “irritating.”

• What could Joe Jackson, Vada Pinson andStarlin Castro possibly have in common?They’re the only players ever to stack up 200hits, 20 steals, 35 doubles and 65 RBI in theirage-21 seasons.

• Another selection from the statistical saladbar: Only two Red Sox have had 200 hits, 25homers, 100 RBI and 45 doubles in a season.Both did it this year: Jacoby Ellsbury and AdrianGonzalez.

• Kevin Slowey made eight starts this year, andthe Twins lost them all. (The modern record is 0-for-10 by Ike Pearson of the 1941 Phillies.) Healso came out the pen six times, and the Twinsdropped each of those games, as well.

• This couldn’t have been easy: The Braves’Derek Lowe led the majors with 17 losses on a89-win team. Then there’s poor Hiroki Kuroda,whose 3.07 ERA was the lowest in 19 years bya 16-game loser. But who’s luckier than MicahOwings? On Tuesday, he became the first NLpitcher ever to log a victory despite allowing fiveruns in an outing of an inning or less. That ranhis ledger to 8-0 – twice as many wins as anyother D’back who’s ever gone undefeated.

• R.I.P. Florida Marlins. On November 11, theteam with the lowest attendance in the NL eachof the last seven seasons starts over as theMiami Marlins.

OctOber 8, 1995

In the first year of the wild card era, the SeattleMariners defeat the New York Yankees in Game 5— overcoming a 2-games-to-0 deficit — to ad-vance to the ALCS. Down 5-4 in the bottom of the11th, singles by Joey Cora and Ken Griffey precedea series-winning double by Edgar Martinez scoringGriffey from first. Future Hall of Famers WadeBoggs, Mariano Rivera, Ken Griffey, Alex Rodriguezand Randy Johnson would appear.

OctOber 5, 1997

Cleveland’s Sandy Alomar takes Mariano Rivera ofthe Yankees deep to the opposite field in the eighthinning to tie Game 5 at 2-2. The Indians score an-other run in the ninth on an infield single to wrap upthe best-of-five ALDS.

OctOber 10, 1999

Facing elimination at home in Game 4 of the ALDS,Boston jumps on Cleveland pitching for 24 hits in a23-7 thrashing. Third baseman John Valentin leadsthe hit parade with four hits and seven RBIs on twohome runs and a double. Jason Varitek contributesfive hits. The Red Sox would go on to win Game 5and the series the following night in Cleveland.

OctOber 4, 2003

Florida’s leftfielder Jeff Conine throws out the Giants’J.T. Snow at home plate to preserve a 7-6 lead andsend the Marlins to the NLCS. Florida had taken thelead with two runs in the bottom of the eighth beforeSnow singled home a run in the ninth. With two out,Jeffrey Hammonds lined a base hit to left and Snowwas tagged out by Ivan Rodriguez on a bang-bangplay to end the series. Florida third baseman MiguelCabrera led the Marlins with four hits and three RBIs.Starting pitcher Dontrelle Willis helped his own causewith three hits, including a triple.

OctOber 6, 2007

The Colorado Rockies complete a sweep of theheavily favored Philadelphia Phillies as UbaldoJimenez combines with three relievers to three-hitthe Phillies in Colorado. Pinch-hitter Jeff Baker’stwo-out single scores Garrett Atkins with the go-ahead run in the eighth inning for the 2-1 win.

Compiled by Charlie Miller. Follow him on Twitter @AthlonCharlie or email Charlie.Miller@AthlonSports.com

TRIVIAANSWER:DerekJeter,78;JorgePosada, 43. Andruw Jones, 36; Johnny Damon,35; Rafael Furcal, 34; Alex Rodriguez, 32.

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