A review of the American League Divisional Series

Story by: Sarah Rowe Holmes

The final out of game five in Oakland marks the end of a Cinderella season. The Athletics fought their way to the bitter end but were stonewalled by a dominant Justin Verlander. The A’s went up against Verlander twice this series and were unsuccessful in both outings. They struck out 22 times for a Division Series record and only managed one run.

Detroit’s starting pitching was the key factor in the Tigers’ wins in this five game stretch. Their starting rotation threw for a total of 34.2 innings, collected 41 strikeouts and earned only five runs. Tiger reliever Joaquin Benoit and closer Jose Valverde are known for being sporadic and they lived up to their reputations. Benoit was responsible for four hits, one walk and two earned runs in three innings of work. Valverde gave us the blown save heard ‘round the world with four hits and three earned runs in 0.2 innings. The starting pitchers will have to continue to go deep into the games during the ALCS.

The bullpen wasn’t the only issue for Detroit. The normally productive bats of Miguel Cabrera and Prince Fielder were missing in action. Cabrera went 5-20 with one RBI and Fielder went a disappointing 4-21 with two RBIs. After a rough September, Omar Infante had a surprising performance. He went 6-17 scoring six times.

The A’s starting rotation held Detroit’s stacked lineup to five runs in the first four games. In game three, Brett Anderson stumped Detroit’s lineup with his slider. He shut out the Tigers giving up only two hits.

Oakland’s outfield is one of the strongest in the game. Yoenis Cespedes and Josh Reddick have extremely strong arms. All three outfielders are willing to get dirty to come up with big plays and were able to take away hits that would drop in most other outfields. Coco Crisp had a stellar series. He started off taking Verlander yard for a leadoff homerun in game one. After committing an error that cost the A’s two runs in game two, Crisp came back and robbed Prince Fielder of a homerun in game three. On Wednesday night he came up big with the walkoff hit that kept Oakland alive.

Seth Smith and Josh Reddick have had the most success against the Tigers this season. Smith was batting .417 with two homeruns and Reddick had a .357 average with two homeruns of his own. They stalled out during this series. Smith went 2-15 and Reddick went 2-17. Cespesdes was the only A’s player to record a hit in all five games.

The 2012 ALDS came down to pitching and Detroit’s starting rotation was better. Their starting pitchers are better than most. Looking forward, if Detroit’s bats come out of hiding they are going to be a tough team to beat.

This season the Athletics have been the definition of a never say die team. At the end of June, they were 13 games out of first and didn’t take sole possession of first place in the AL West until the last regular game of the season when they swept the Texas Rangers. With their gritty, nothing to lose reputation and unlikely chemistry on the field the A’s have won over baseball fans everywhere. They deserve a tip of the hat for a well- deserved spot in postseason ball.