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World Series Team Preview

The San Francisco Giants will face the Detroit Tigers between 4 and 7 times. Probably.

Oh, I guess it's over already?
Oh, I guess it's over already?
Justin Sullivan

GIANTS (94-68) TIGERS (88-74) EDGE
HITTING 29.6 (9th) 42.6 (7th) Tigers
FIELDING (GBs) -11.7 (24th) -6.4 (21st) Tigers
FIELDING (FBs) 32.8 (3rd) -47.3 (29th) Giants
ROTATION 0.1 (16th) 81.3 (1st) Tigers
BULLPEN -7.9 (19th) 2.3 (14th) Tigers
OVERALL 42.8 (10th) 72.6 (7th) TIGERS
Explainer

In case you've been wondering how these two teams compare, I have offered you a pared down version of my Mariners' series preview for this World Series. The data concerns only the Regular Season, so maybe you don't care. I cannot help you then. I don't even want to help you. I don't care if you don't care. That's totally up to you and not caring is probably better anyways. There's a lot of stuff to do in the world and you're not going to live forever.

Hey, look, the Tigers were quite bad at fielding this season. Who would have thought that?

Neither of these teams were even close to the best regular season teams by the above measures. Haha, playoffs! It's so silly how much meaning is attached to these four to seven games instead of the 162 games earlier. At the root of said weight is probably some thinking that those games "count less" and that playoff games are a "truer test" because the players will all "care more." I'm sure they care more, but caring more in baseball has never been shown to translate into anything tangible. Baseball is not really a sport fueled by emotion.

24 OCT 17:00

BARRY ZITO* JUSTIN VERLANDER
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Here are the probable pitchers for the first four games. The Tigers will not start Drew Smyly and the Giants will not start Tim Lincecum. Unless either team does do that. Who knows? Stuff can change. These match ups are not unchangeable.

This first one is quite lopsided in the Tiger's favor. Justin Verlander is really good and the Tigers' other starters are quite good as well...

25 OCT 17:00

MADISON BUMGARNER* DOUG FISTER
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Including Doug Fister, who a lot of people here still hold a candle for. Which I find a bit weird, but whatever floats your boat. Which is usually water. I don't think liking Doug Fister as a baseball player is an adequate means of flotation. If you drown because you thought that would save you, do not sue me.

27 OCT 17:00

RYAN VOGELSONG ANIBAL SANCHEZ
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28 OCT 17:00

MATT CAIN MAX SCHERZER
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If you were Max Scherzer and you had that different-colored eyes thing going on, would you go get colored contacts to wear so that they appear to be the same color? I wonder if that's realistic. Or maybe he embraces the quirk. Or maybe he really digs David Bowie.