MLB Baseball Handicapping

MLB Baseball Power Rankings - League Championship

The Detroit Tigers are back atop the MLB Power Rankings, thanks to strong pitching and a sweep of the Oakland Athletics in the ALCS. Detroit will now have home-field advantage in the 2006 World Series, with their opponent still to be determined.

What are the Tigers' chances of winning it all? Detroit has been a tough team to figure out this season - they started out strongly, went through a terrible slump, then turned it on late to make it to the verge of a championship. Here's a look back at the Tigers' season through the rankings, with week number, position, and blurb:

02 (15) Five straight wins to start the year put them atop the AL Central. Tagged with first loss versus Rangers.

04 (07) Kept rolling along last week, with two wins against the A's and a sweep of the M's. Are they for real in 06?

05 (04) Kenny Rogers: The gamble has paid off for the Tigers so far, as Rogers is 4-2 with a 2.59 ERA in six outings.

06 (07) If the pitching staff continues to be one of the best in the league, the Tigers could be a real playoff contender.

09 (01) Win streak wasn't against the league's best, but we're all impressed by the Tigers' play nonetheless.

13 (01) St. Louis was no match for them as they cruised to the series sweep, and to the best record in all of baseball.

16 (01) Have three games coming up versus the ChiSox this week; winning two or three makes them comfy.

17 (01) Keep looking better and better as the season goes along, and their lead in the division is starting to widen.

21 (04) Managed to score only a dozen runs in their four-game set with the Rangers; offense needs to get into gear.

22 (05) Mediocre play continues. Lost twice to the Tribe on the weekend, and twice to the ChiSox earlier in the week.

24 (07) Is there enough time left in the season for the Tigers to fall out of both the Central and the Wild Card race?

27 (05) A quick playoff exit for the Tigers and their turnaround season will mean less. Need to outpitch New York.

28 (02) Won themselves a lot of fans last week by dispatching the overpaid, unpopular Yankees from the playoffs.

Here is the second LCS edition of the MLB Power Rankings.

01 - Detroit Tigers (Last Week 02)
Pitching and home-field advantage will make the Tigers the favorite in the World Series no matter who is crowned the National League champion. Detroit gave up just nine runs in the four-game sweep of Oakland, while their offense put 22 runs on the scoreboard. Placido Polanco was named ALCS MVP after hitting an impressive .529 versus the A's.

02 - New York Mets (Last Week 03)
The Mets tied up the best-of-seven National League Championship Series on Sunday night by trouncing the Cardinals 12-5. Carlos Beltran homered twice and scored four times for the Mets in the win, while Carlos Delgado homered and drove in five runs. Mets starter Oliver Perez was shaky (5 2-3 innings pitched, five runs allowed), but it didn't matter.

03 - St. Louis Cardinals (Last Week 04)
In order to regain their advantage in the NLCS the Cards will have to get past Tom Glavine in Game 5 on Tuesday night - and Glavine is coming off back-to-back scoreless performances. Getting the ball for St. Louis will be Jeff Weaver, who pitched well earlier in the series (5 2-3 innings pitched, two runs allowed) but still picked up the loss.

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