The narrative going into the postseason, at least on the AL side, is going to focus on the Detroit Verlanders and how Verlanderable they are in a short series with Verlander Verlandering two games in a Verlander series.
Of course, the Yankees have some pitcher named Sabathia who's not exactly a slouch, and although nobody "fears" having to face him twice in a short series, they should. CC Sabathia has made roughly 2/3rds of his starts against teams with winning records, while Verlander has only faced winning teams in 1/3rd of his starts. Sabathia has also faced stronger hitters this season. Without getting into any advanced metrics, that alone has should close a good portion of the gap between their ERAs, W/L records, and the general perception of sportswriters.
I doubt it will, but whatever. It's important to remember that teams can lose a postseason series even with a dominant pitcher (see the '09 Phillies and '10 Rangers).
- Right now the Rangers look like the Yankees most likely first round playoff opponent. The Tigers hold the tiebreaker over Texas if the wind up with the same record, and it's pretty likely the Wild Card will come out of the AL East.
- I think Joe Girardi is a nice guy, but this kind of stuff makes me roll my eyes a little, because sometimes I think the only thing seprating him from Tony LaRussa's level of micromanaging madness is the simple fact that the pitcher doesn't have to hit in the AL.
- Here's a name you don't hear often anymore: Chuck Knoblauch. Here's why.