The Daily Shift’s Joel Slattery gives us a preview of the biggest day on the MLB calender – The World Series Final. Read on for more…
2011 World Series celebration in St. Louis, Missouri
The San Francisco Giants will face off against the Detroit Tigers in the 108th World Series in America’s Major League Baseball. The Giants come into the series as champions of the National League, beating the St. Louis Cardinals in a thrilling 7-game series. The Giants overturned a 3-1 series deficit to win the last three games to clinch the series.
The Tigers meanwhile, enter as American League champions beating the New York Yankees in the championship series. The Yankees were ravaged by injuries in that series and the Lions ran out easy winners winning four straight games.
Detroit come into the series as bookies favourites despite the fact that San Francisco had a better record in the gruelling regular season. The Tigers won the AL Central division with an 88-74 record compared to the Giants 94-68 record in the NL West division.
The Giants are at home for the first two games in AT&T Park and will be looking to make strong start. The teams will then go to Comerica Park in downtown Detroit for the next three matches. Then, if necessary, games 6 and 7 will be in San Francisco.
The Giants defence has been outstanding recently, conceding just one run in the last three games against the Cardinals. That said the Tigers only let the Yankees score six runs in the whole series. The consistency of the pitchers will be crucial to determine who can call themselves World Champion.
This was an honour the Giants last had in 2010. That experience could be a key factor as they should not be over-awed by the occasion. The Tigers last played in the World Series in 2006, losing in five games to St. Louis.
The fast paced nature of the series means teams have little or no time to reflect on a result or performance and their straight into the next game. If the series goes to a full seven matches, game 7 will be played only 11 days after game one. This also means if a player gets an injury it could rule him out for the whole series, something the Yankees found out in their series with the Tigers.
For now all eyes are on the Bay Area where one of the biggest events in the American sporting calendar is about to get underway.
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