While some 2013 MLB postseason divisional playoff series have wrapped two games already, the Detroit Tigers and Oakland A’s won’t kick off their ALDS Game 1 until tonight on TBS. It should make for a great pitching matchup as Max Scherzer and Bartolo Colon clash in what could be the first of two meetings between the power pitchers. Watch MLB Baseball ALDS Divisional Playoff Game 1 free live online streaming on TBS instructions are linked below.
For Oakland, this series is deja vu as they barely lost to the Tigers in last year’s ALDS and just missed reaching the ALCS by one game. The A’s have shown improvement against the Tigers this season and won three of four games played at Comerica Park in Detroit, where games 1 and 2 of this series will be played. The A’s hope to win at least one of these games and send the series back to Oakland with a chance to win it there and avoid Game 5.
Oakland’s starting pitcher tonight is Bartolo Colon, the verteran who won 18 games this season and still has plenty left in the tank. He will be countered by Detroit’s 21-game winner Max Scherzer and not Justin Verlander, who beat the A’s twice in last year’s ALDS. Scherzer has had an amazing season, besting Verlander, and Jim Leyland feels he’s the best pitcher for the job tonight.
Josh Donaldson won player of the month honors in September and ironically has mirrored his game after Triple Crown winner Miguel Cabrera on the Tigers. Whatever he’s done has worked for the A’s as Donaldson broke out this year with a .301 batting average with 24 home runs and 93 RBIs. Those aren’t Cabrera numbers, but the A’s will be counting on Donaldson for some offensive pop.
Cabrera has been battling nagging injuries all season but you wouldn’t know it from the numbers he put up. Take away Chris Johnson and his home runs for the Orioles and Cabrera would have won the Triple Crown again with his .348 batting average, 44 home runs and 137 RBIs. He and his teammates are no stranger to this position before. This is the third straight year they have won the AL Central, but a World Series title has remained elusive.
Scherzer and Colon are both experienced enough that nerves shouldn’t play a factor in their pitching performances tonight. The A’s are clearly the underdog, but I predict they’ll pull off an upset and ding Scherzer for a few runs early to steal home field advantage and put themselves in a position to push the Tigers against the ropes. It won’t get any easier in Game 2 for the A’s as they’ll have to face Verlander, so a win tonight would be absolutely huge to their chances in this series.
Game 1 of the 2013 MLB AL Divisional Playoffs Series between the number 2 seed Detroit Tigers and number 3 seed Oakland A’s will get underway at a start time of 9:37 pm EST / 6:37 pm PST on TV on TBS in high definition (HD). Cable or satellite subscribers with TBS in their selected package have the choice to watch free live online streaming of tonight’s Divisional Playoff Game 1 here on TBS by logging in with the information set up with their service provider.
