04/24/24
September 17, 2011
Detroit Tigers Win AL Central: The Detroit Tigers clinched the American League Central on Friday with a 3-1 win over the Oakland Athletics, the franchise's first division title since 1987 and first trip to the postseason since 2006. "We were seven games behind the Cleveland Indians at one point," said an almost weepy Tigers manager Jim Leyland. "There are special moments you can't put a price tag on and you just enjoy them."
posted by grum@work at 04:45 PM on September 17, 2011
Gotta give a lot of the credit to Justin Verlander. Detroit is a .500 team without his pitching contribution.
Which is still good enough to win the Central...
posted by MeatSaber at 05:52 PM on September 17, 2011
Actually, Verlander has 23 of the Tigers 88 wins, so they would be in 3rd or 4th without him.
posted by insomnyuk at 06:32 PM on September 17, 2011
So if Verlander wasn't a Tiger, there's no chance they'd win any of those games? If they're a .500 team without him, wouldn't they still win at least half the games he's pitched, if someone else started? Fact is, a .500 team in the Comedy Central is good enough to win the division. I don't even have to pull out a "what if" scenario for that...
posted by MeatSaber at 07:09 PM on September 17, 2011
Gotta give a lot of the credit to Justin Verlander. Detroit is a .500 team without his pitching contribution.
If he played that big of a factor in getting his team into the playoffs, give him the MVP.
posted by roberts at 09:05 PM on September 17, 2011
well MeatSaber obviously you aren't impressed with Verlander's league leading 23 wins. There's no pleasing some people.
posted by insomnyuk at 09:56 PM on September 17, 2011
Actually, I'm a big Tigers fan, and a huge Verlander slappy. I was just playing devil's advocate, and bracing everyone for when the idiot writers who vote on the MVP start making their excuses for not voting for him. IMO, there's noone that even comes close, if the V in MVP still stands for "valuable."
posted by MeatSaber at 10:39 PM on September 17, 2011
bracing everyone for when the idiot writers who vote on the MVP start making their excuses for not voting for him. IMO, there's noone that even comes close, if the V in MVP still stands for "valuable."
Really?
No one that comes close?
I understand your fandom giving you a slightly warped perspective, but I'm assuming you simply forgot about this guy.
Try to imagine how bad his team would be if he wasn't on it right now, given the division they play in.
posted by grum@work at 11:53 AM on September 18, 2011
Yes, I'm sure Blue Jays fans are glad Bautista hoists up the team into 4th place. The Tigers are a .500 team without JV...Toronto is .500 with Bautista. How is he more valuable again?
posted by MeatSaber at 01:35 PM on September 18, 2011
Besides playing every day? Look at WAR. I say that as someone still pissed about Pedro missing out on an MVP, but it's hard to make a case for a pitcher against position players having great seasons.
posted by yerfatma at 02:59 PM on September 18, 2011
Yes, I'm sure Blue Jays fans are glad Bautista hoists up the team into 4th place. The Tigers are a .500 team without JV...Toronto is .500 with Bautista. How is he more valuable again?
I'm sure Toronto would be in the running for the playoffs if they got to play the teams in the Central division more often.
I'll point out that every single team in the AL East (including 62-88 Baltimore) has a winning record against the AL Central.
Detroit's record is basically built entirely upon them feasting on the (incredibly) weak teams in the AL Central:
Detroit's record: 88-64
Detroit's record against the AL Central: 46-21
Detroit's record against the rest of MLB: 42-43
(from BR standings, not taking into account today's games yet)
It seems to me that Detroit's MVP is the division alignment/schedule maker...
posted by grum@work at 04:05 PM on September 18, 2011
People talk about Detroit like they're a bunch of stiffs and Justin Verlander. They've got Carbrera (the second best hitter in baseball this year), Aliva might be the best catcher in the AL this year, Peralta and Martinez are having great years, and both Scherzer and Porcello have 14 wins despite having extremely mediocre years. That's a good team. That's not a one pitcher team.
posted by WeedyMcSmokey at 08:32 PM on September 18, 2011
Gotta give a lot of the credit to Justin Verlander. Detroit is a .500 team without his pitching contribution.