MLB Baseball Handicapping

MLB Baseball Power Rankings - Wrld Series

A Game 2 win at Comerica Park kept the Detroit Tigers atop the MLB Power Rankings, but in order to go into the offseason as the No. 1 team they're going to have to pick up at least one win in St. Louis this week. The Cards grabbed home-field advantage in the best-of-seven series by winning Game 1 in Detroit, and they'll now get the next three games in their own ballpark (on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday nights). Should the Tigers not get swept in those games (or, in turn, do some sweeping), the series will return to Detroit for one or two games this weekend.

The key to Detroit's win in Game 2? That'd be the pitching performance of Kenny Rogers, who went eight innings, allowing no runs on two hits, and striking out five batters (and wiping one mysterious smudge off his hand). Rogers has been perfect so far this postseason, tossing 7 2-3 shutout innings in the first round versus the New York Yankees, and another 7 1-3 shutout innings in the ALCS against the Oakland Athletics. In total Rogers has pitched 23 innings this postseason, giving up just nine hits and not allowing a single run. And all at 41 years of age to boot.

Here is the World Series edition of the MLB Power Rankings.

01 - Detroit Tigers (Last Week 01)
Nate Robertson will get the start for Detroit in Game 3 on the road on Tuesday night. The lefthander has had one good and one bad outing so far during the postseason. In the team's playoff opener against the Yankees, Robertson gave up seven runs on 12 hits in only 5 2-3 innings of work, striking out just one batter while taking the loss. However, he bounced back in the ALCS against the A's, tossing five scoreless innings while allowing just six hits and fanning four in a win. During the season Robertson was 13-13 with a 3.84 ERA and 137 strikeouts in 208.2 innings. Craig Monroe has hit two home runs in two games against the Cardinals, and his five postseason long balls lead the league (Carlos Delgado is second with four). Monroe is hitting .324 during the playoffs, and has driven in nine runs. Those nine RBI also lead the Tigers; Magglio Ordonez has eight RBI in 10 postseason games, while Curtis Granderson has seven. Both Ordonez and Granderson have three home runs in the playoffs, while no one else on the team has more than one. Ivan Rodriguez has struggled in the postseason, hitting just .135 with four RBI so far.

02 - St. Louis Cardinals (Last Week 03)
The Cardinals will counter with ace Chris Carpenter in their first home game of the World Series. Carpenter has already pitched four times in the postseason, going 2-1 with a no-decision. Both of those wins came against the Padres in the NLDS, when the righthander gave up one run on five hits over 6 1-3 innings, and two runs on seven hits over seven innings. In the NLCS against the Mets Carpenter allowed five runs on six hits over five innings, and two runs on seven hits over six innings. During the regular season Carpenter went 15-8 with a 3.09 ERA and 184 Ks. Not surprisingly, Albert Pujols leads the Cardinals with three postseason home runs, and he's hitting .302 with six RBI in 13 playoff games. Jim Edmonds, So Taguchi, and Yadier Molina all have two home runs in the postseason, and Edmonds leads the team with eight RBI. Molina is hitting .318 over 44 postseason at-bats, while Taguchi is hitting .625 (albeit in just eight trips to the plate). Preston Wilson hasn't been producing for St. Louis at the plate; he's just 5-for-29 (.172) in the playoffs, with no home runs and just one RBI. Juan Encarnation is hitting just .186 in 43 at-bats.

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