Four games, four losses. Six runs scored in four losses. Sixteen runs allowed in four losses. Miguel Cabrera went 3-13 in those four losses. Prince Fielder went 1-14 in those four losses. Justin Verlander pitched in only one of those four losses and allowed an uncharacteristic five runs in only four innings. In case you haven’t caught on by now, I’m taking you all back to the nightmarish four-game debacle that was the 2012 World Series.
After underachieving for most of the season, the 2012 Detroit Tigers finally pulled away from the Chicago White Sox in the American League Central, winning eight of their final ten games to claim their second consecutive AL Central title and playoff birth. After needing all five games to knock off the Oakland Athletics in the ALDS, they stormed through New York and dominated the Yankees, sweeping them in the ALCS. But in the World Series of course, the Tigers suffered an eerily similar fate as the 2006 AL Champion Tigers did, sitting through a five-day layoff before battling the San Francisco Giants in the Fall Classic. The Giants had the look and feel of last year’s “Team of Destiny,” and mowed through the Tigers in four games, finishing them off on their home field of Comerica Park.
But it’s a new year, and the Tigers have reason to be excited. It’s certainly not easy to return to the World Series in consecutive years, but ask the Texas Rangers, who won the AL in both 2010 and 2011, if the task is impossible. This year’s Tigers squad is certainly improved on paper and it will be up to them to take advantage of the breathtaking talent their roster boasts before their window of opportunity closes. So let’s take the first look at your 2013 Detroit Tigers, and what they must do to repeat as American League Champions:
OFFENSE
[caption id="attachment_392" align="alignright" width="253" caption="Torii Hunter, pictured with the Twins in 2006, will return to the AL Central this season and will provide the Tigers with offense, defense and some much needed leadership. (Photo credit: Keith Allison, Flickr)"]
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Barring a nationwide drought of cigarettes and noodles, which would undoubtedly send Jim Leyland soaring off the deep end once and for all, this figures to be the batting order the Tigers will send up to the plate on most days:
CF - Austin Jackson
RF - Torii Hunter
3B - Miguel Cabrera
1B - Prince Fielder
DH - Victor Martinez
LF - Andy Dirks
SS - Jhonny Peralta
C - Alex Avila
2B - Omar Infante
It’s as deep a lineup as this 90’s baby can ever remember the Tigers presenting, getting a slight nod over their 2008 Opening Day lineup. And hopefully this 2013 batting order will find a lot more success than 08’s did. Looking at last year’s numbers, you’re trotting out six straight .300 hitters from 2012, minus Victor Martinez, but we’ll count him anyway because he did hit .330 in 2011, his last season. Austin Jackson will once again be the catalyst and may be the most important piece of the Tigers puzzle this season. He struck out 47 times less last year than he did in 2011. Of course he did play in 16 less games than he did in 2011 due to injury, but he also walked 11 more times, so he is clearly getting better at taking pitches and finding his pitch to hit.
Torii Hunter brings a nice blend of speed and power to the two hole and should see a lot of fastballs hitting in front of Miguel Cabrera. You know what you’re going to get from Cabby and Prince, but V-Mart‘s possible return to prominence, following his lost 2012 season to an ACL tear, will be key. Early reports out of spring training say that he looks like his old self at the plate, and with all that beef in the three and four spots, Victor doesn’t even need to improve on his 12 home runs hit in 2011. He can just keep on spraying baseballs into those spacious Comerica gaps and driving guys in (Martinez finished second on the team in doubles and RBI in 2011, behind only Cabrera in both categories.) Andy Dirks, who struggled in the playoffs, will be an underrated x-factor on offense. Dirks absolutely crushed right-handers last year, batting .336 against them, and also fared pretty well against lefties, batting .274. He will be responsible not only for cleaning up whatever the big dogs leave on base, but also for setting the table for the bottom half of the lineup and navigating the basepaths with his above-average base-running ability.
Don’t expect too much from that bottom part of the lineup, though. Omar Infante is a huge upgrade over the likes of Ramon Santiago and Danny Worth, some of the middle infielders the Tigers were plugging into the number nine hole to open the season last year, but Jhonny Peralta and Alex Avila are different stories. Avila is swinging and missing far too much again in spring training (he’s been K’d in 11 of his 28 at bats after striking out 104 times in only 116 games last year). After showing a lot of promise in 2011, hitting .295 with 19 homers and 82 RBI, the daily grind that comes with playing the catching position has taken its toll on Alex’s body and it’s translated to his performance at the plate. Peralta also showed us that his .299 average in 2011 was the outlier of his career stats, plummeting to a measly .239 last season. Anything extra you get out of he and Alex will be a bonus this year. If they can slug 30 combined home runs, Tigers fans should be delighted.
DEFENSE
En route to winning the first Triple Crown Major League Baseball has awarded a player since 1967, Miguel Cabrera also took some time to prove he’s not the worst defensive third baseman in the history of the world. Cabrera graded out as a middle-of-the-pack defender at the hot corner last season and should again be mediocre this season, which is well worth his once-in-a-generation prowess at the plate.
Jhonny Peralta should continue to be overrated by the fans and media alike at shortstop, because of his low-risk defensive style and nonexistent range. Peralta finished second in all of baseball in fielding percentage at his position last year at a .988 clip, which is excellent. But what goes unnoticed is all those balls that sneak by him, on both his weak and strong sides. Cabrera and Omar Infante aren’t exactly the rangiest defenders in the league either, so expect groundball-inducing pitcher Rick Porcello to pull most of the hair out of his head again this season until he’s inevitably shipped out of town.
Flip a coin as to what side of the infield is more steady, as the duo on the right side of the diamond, Infante and Prince Fielder, have committed a mind-boggling 51 combined errors since the beginning of the 2011 season. Long story short, the infield defense is going to be a circus this year. The outfield, though, should be one of the better defensive outfields in the league.
In addition to the power/speed combo that Torii Hunter brings to the lineup, he will be packing up his nine gold gloves and bringing them to Motown. Once a dynamic center fielder, Hunter still graded out in the top half of the league in most defensive categories in right field, including putouts and fielding percentage, last season in Los Angeles. Hunter will be head and shoulders above last year’s Opening Day right fielder, Brennan Boesch, and while not too flashy, Andy Dirks provides above average speed in left and should prove to be very steady again. Expect the outfield to get better jumps and take fewer bad routes to fly balls, making for a much steadier defensive season than that of the 2012 Detroit Tigers outfield.
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