Make Max Scherzer the closer for the rest of the playoffs. When he had struggled in the past, I had thought he had a future in the bullpen. He obviously put it all together this year and had his best year ever as a starter so that thought faded away.

The Tigers have potentially 13 more games left, the way the rotation is set up – Max will probably only get two more starts. I’d much rather roll the dice with Smyly/Porcello starting those two games and have Max for the end of every game. I fully expect the Tigers to use him in that role regardless late in a series.

“My Lord, why are the Yankees losing — what do you read?”
“RISP…RISP…RISP…Run producers that produceth not.”

Detroit is built more for the postseason. They lack depth, but have a few pitchers and position players who are the best in the sport. Not so great for a long season, but tough to beat in October.

Also, I actually wonder if Sabathia does get another start. He’s one of the few who can pitch well on short rest.

The real problem is that he may indeed pitch the last game of the series. But it’s just as likely to be game four as game seven.

With Valverde, you can’t easily draw a straight line and say he was this bad from game 1 to 162. Sometimes he would have a 1-2-3 inning. He has pitched for us for 3 seasons now (2010 being the best stuff-wise outside of the number of saves he recorded in 2011). With his velocity down, I think an injury of some kind might be the cause.

You do?

Don’t be so old skool Leyland. It won’t help you win. Time to reconfigure.