Detroit Tigers vs. Baltimore Orioles: Predicting the Final Score of ALDS Game 1
Joy R. Absalon – USA TODAY Sports
On Thursday evening, the first ALDS series will be underway, as the Baltimore Orioles will welcome the Detroit Tigers to Camden Yards.
The Orioles ran away with the AL East this season, winning by 12 games over the New York Yankees. Quite honestly, I don’t know how they did it. They can hit the ball; that’s the one thing that Baltimore does as well as any team in the playoffs right now. Their run differential is at plus 112, which is the fourth-highest mark in baseball. Nelson Cruz leads the team with 40 home runs, and Adam Jones leads the team in hits. Both have had past success in the playoffs, so I would expect them to be impactful this year. Regardless of their powerful offense, I am not nearly as confident in their pitching staff. I’m not sure that the rotation will be able to stand up to the pressures of postseason baseball.
Their strategy this year was to bludgeon the opposition by stringing hits and home runs together, but they don’t have a starting pitcher with an ERA under 3.34. That belongs to Chris Tillman, who will get the start Thursday against an equally powerful Tigers offense.
Speaking of the Tigers, they send Max Scherzer, last year’s AL Cy Young Award winner, to the mound. Scherzer has had another outstanding season, finishing 18-5 with an ERA of 3.15. When he is on, Scherzer can dominate any lineup in the game. He has the ability to make it look easy. And remember, he is pitching for a new contract at the end of the year, so expect him to be on top of his game.
Offensively, the Tigers are just as potent as the Orioles. Not only do they have Miguel Cabrera, who can single-handedly win a series, but Victor Martinez is in the midst of one of the best seasons of his career. He finished second in the AL batting title behind Jose Altuve with a batting average of .335.
Everything points to this series being a slugfest, and it very well could be. Even with the raucous Baltimore crowd, I believe that Scherzer will just be too much for the Orioles’ lineup.
Final Prediction: Detroit 5, Baltimore 2
Tyler Ruby is a New York Mets writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter at Hello_Iam_Tyler and add him to your network on Google.
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