2006 Season, Playoffs, Previews

World Series Prediction Center

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The Tigers are better than the Cardinals. I don’t think this even requires that much debate. The Tigers won 12 more games than the Cardinals. That in itself is impressive, but they did it in a division with 2 other 90 game winners while the Cardinals 83 was enough to lead the NL Central.

In addition, the won-loss records weren’t flukes. Detroit outscored their opponents by 147 runs while the Cards margin was only +19.

It’s understandable that the Tigers are overwhelming favorites in this series. They have the talent advantage. They are rested. The Cardinals have one day off and are somewhat forced into a particular rotation. The Tigers have an additional week of data and scouting reports to work with.

Normally this is the point where I caution people on getting too over-confident by pointing to the example of the New York Yankees. Remember the Yankees, the consensus favorite for whom the Tigers would merely be something to shoo away enroute to bigger things? The Tigers handled the Yankees in 4 with ease. The difference in this series is that the gap between the Tigers and Yankees wasn’t as great as the gap betwen the Cardinals and Tigers.

Now the Tigers should win, but will they? I think they get it done on the field as well as on paper and I’ll take the Tigers in 6.

The round up

Tiger Bloggers

  • Detroit Tiger Tales has a comprehensive write-up. Lee takes Tigers in 6.
  • Brian is worried about people handing this series to the Tigers before they even play, but takes the Tigers in 6.
  • Mack Avenue Tigers breaks it down by component and likes the Tigers in 5.
  • Greg Eno goes position by position and finds the Tigers should win in 5.

Cardinals blogs

I was hoping to list a handful of Cards blogs predictions, but so far they aren’t up yet – except for Deadspin who took the Cardinals in 7 (and they have links to a bunch of national predictions).

But for the Cards fan perspective, check out Cardnilly, Viva el Birdos, Gas House Gang, Cardinals Diaspora, and Get Up Baby.

Mainstream Media Folk

  • Baseball Prospectus likes the Tigers in 6 in what is the most comprhensive preview I’ve seen so far.
  • The ESPN crew has the Tigers as the consensus, typically in 5 or 6 games.
  • John Donovan from CNNSI says Tigers in 6.
  • Ken Rosenthal says Cardinals in 7.

2 thoughts on “World Series Prediction Center”

  2. It’s funny to contrast where we find ourselves now,with our “talent advantage” ,with virtually every preseason prediction of the 2006 season.The Cardinals,winner of 200+ games the past two years,with Pujols,Rolen,Edmunds,Carpenter,Isringhausen,et al,were picked by many experts as the National League pennant winner.
    The Tigers,meanwhile,were a consensus fourth place finisher in the AL Central.
    It’s why they play the game and it’s why it’s not over until we win 4 more.

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