Can A's overcome Tigers pitching?
Oakland will have its hands full with Detroit's top-heavy roster
The Oakland Athletics and Detroit Tigers will square off in the American League Division Series. Here's a look at what to watch, who will win and why:
Key matchup: Brandon Moss vs. Phil Coke
The A's don't have a ton of power from the left side and the Tigers don't have much left-handed pitching, so this series is going to be a battle of right-handers. But the two prominent lefties might end up deciding things. Moss slugged .643 versus right-handed pitching but just .431 against lefties this year, so you can bet Jim Leyland is going to target his lefty specialist to face the A's toughest slugging lefty as many times as possible. Because of Coke's problems against right-handers -- they hit .396/.446/.604 against him this year -- Moss is probably the only batter he'll face all series. These two should get used to seeing each other.
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Dave Cameron
FanGraphs- Managing editor of FanGraphs
- Founder of U.S.S. Mariner
- Also contributes to Wall Street Journal
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