A Major League Baseball showdown of title-hungry teams begins today when the long-struggling Detroit Tigers and Oakland A's begin their best-of-seven American League finals in Oakland.
Three years after setting a one-season league record with 119 losses, the Tigers toppled the New York Yankees, baseball's richest and winningest team this season, in the first round of the playoffs.
Either Oakland or Detroit will advance to the World Series, with the winner hosting the National League champion on Oct. 21.
The A's had lost six consecutive playoff series over the past 17 years before ousting Minnesota in the first round.
The Tigers have not won the World Series since 1984, when they defeated the San Diego Padres for the crown. Their only other title since 1945 came in 1968 when they outlasted St. Louis in a seven-game classic.
The A's twice reached the World Series three years in a row, sweeping titles from 1972-1974 but losing in 1988 and 1990 around their most recent crown, a 1989 sweep of the Bay Area-rival San Francisco Giants.
Oakland's Barry Zito, a 16-game winner this season with a 1.29 ERA in his only start this season against the Tigers, will start today's opener against Detroit's Nate Robertson, who was 13-13 overall and 1-1 versus the A's.
Detroit pitcher Jeremy Bonderman was benched in 2003 after losing 19 games so he would not risk bearing the shame of being a 20-game loser.
This year he pitched Detroit past the Yankees in the deciding game of their series, showing the Tigers bore no ill effects of a late-season fade that cost them the AL Central division crown on the final day of the regular season.
"This is a great thing that happened to us," Bonderman said. "This is a great group. We hit a scuff in the road, but a good team will bounce back. And we have a great team."
Detroit hurlers threw 20 consecutive scoreless innings against the Yankees, who had the American League's best record and fielded one of the toughest and most expensive batting lineups ever assembled.
The Tigers feature veteran pitcher Kenny Rogers, who won his first playoff game at age 41 to shake off talk he was too old, and manager Jim Leyland, who had been burned out on baseball after guiding Florida to a World Series title but still wanted to help resurrect Detroit's fortunes.
"I thought we'd get better ... but I thought, for sure, it would take a year or two," Leyland said.
The A's feature a tough lineup at the plate, including sluggers Frank Thomas, Eric Chavez and Nick Swisher and a skilled pitching staff sparked by Zito and Danny Haren.
Thomas pounded 39 home runs this season while Swisher added 35 and Chavez had 22.
The next generation of running talent takes center stage at today’s Berlin Marathon, in the absence of stars including Kenyan Eliud Kipchoge and Ethiopian world record holder Tigist Assefa. With most of the major marathon stars skipping the event in the wake of the Paris Olympics just more than a month ago, the field is wide open in the men’s and women’s races. Since 2015, Kipchoge has won five times in Berlin, Kenenisa Bekele has won twice and Guye Adola once — with all three missing today. Kenyan Kibiwott Kandie and Ethiopian Tadese Takele are among the favourites for the men, while
Japan’s Shohei Ohtani is the record-breaking baseball “superhuman” following in the footsteps of the legendary Babe Ruth who has also earned comparisons to US sporting greats Michael Jordan and Tom Brady. Not since Ruth a century ago has there been a baseball player capable of both pitching and hitting at the top level. The 30-year-old’s performances with the Los Angeles Dodgers have consolidated his position as a baseball legend in the making, and a national icon in his native Japan. He continues to find new ways to amaze, this year becoming the first player to hit 50 home runs and steal 50 bases
Zhang Shuai yesterday said that she nearly quit after losing 24 matches in a row — now the world No. 595 is into the quarter-finals of her home China Open. The 35-year-old is to face Spain’s Paula Badosa as the lowest-ranked player to reach this stage in the history of the tournament after Badosa reeled off 11 of the last 12 games in a 6-4, 6-0 victory over US Open finalist Jessica Pegula. Zhang went into Beijing on a barren run lasting more than 600 days and her string of singles defeats was the second-longest on the WTA Tour Open era, which
Taiwan’s Tony Wu yesterday beat Mackenzie McDonald of the US to win the Nonthaburi Challenger IV in Thailand, his first challenger victory since 2022. The 26-year-old world No. 315, who won both his qualifiers to advance to the main draw, has been on a hot streak this month, winning his past nine matches, including two that ensured Taiwan’s victory in their Davis Cup World Group I tie. Wu took just more than two hours to top world No. 172 McDonald 6-3, 7-6 (7/4) to win his second challenger tournament since the Tallahassee Tennis Challenger in 2022. Wu’s Tallahassee win followed two years of
RSS