Boston will look to win a berth to the World Series tonight, but they will have to get through Max Scherzer and the Detroit Tigers. Scherzer matches up with Boston’s Clay Buchholz for a rematch of game two in this series. Neither came away with a win, but Buchholz was tagged for five runs. The Red Sox, on the other hand, struggled mightily against Scherzer and only managed to score off the Tigers’ bullpen. All it took was a Big Papi grand slam and some late magic for Boston to win this one. If Scherzer is cruising once again in this game, it will be highly unlikely that he will be taken out before getting 27 outs.
On their travel day, the Tigers chose to rest their key players including Miguel Cabrera and Alex Avila. Manager Jim Leyland said Avila would play tonight. More importantly though, the Tigers need Prince Fielder to get hot. If he can get hot hitting behind Cabrera, this lineup just got a lot tougher to pitch to. The Red Sox may have to find a way to win this game because it does not get any easier in game seven. Justin Verlander is expected to pitch in the finale, and he only made one mistake in game three; a solo bomb hit by Mike Napoli. However, that is jumping ahead. In this game, it will come down to the Tigers’ ability to score.
I think the Tigers should win this one, and if they do not then they did not deserve to go to the World Series. They have the best pitcher in the American League pitching tonight, and have one of the best hitting lineups in baseball. In game two, they were able to score off Buchholz and they should be able to again. The Red Sox have been hitting much better and Scherzer will likely not have such an easy time getting through their equally as impressive lineup. Red Sox vs. Tigers- who you takin?
