The Detroit Tigers quest toward another pennant begins the same way it did a year ago, with a best-of-five American League Division Series against the Oakland Athletics. [url=http://www.nbaraptorsonline.com/Authentic-Tracy-Mcgrady-Jersey/]Tra cy Mcgrady Jersey[/url] . The As gave Detroit all it could

The Detroit Tigers quest toward another pennant begins the same way it did a year ago, with a best-of-five American League Division Series against the Oakland Athletics. Tracy Mcgrady Jersey . The As gave Detroit all it could handle last year, as the Tigers needed to win a decisive fifth game at O.co Coliseum to advance to the ALCS, where they swept the New York Yankees. Of course, Detroits run ended in the World Series, as it was swept in four games by the San Francisco Giants. Oakland may have been content with just making the playoffs last season, but its a different story this year for the As, who enter the postseason with perhaps the most complete team on the American League side. "We were just riding that emotion and certainly happy to be where we were," Oakland manager Bob Melvin said. "But the mindset was different this spring; the expectations were different." Last year, of course, the Athletics needed to win their final six games - including a three-game sweep of the Texas Rangers to close the regular season - to claim their first American League West title since 2006. Well, Oakland proved that last year was no fluke, as it has spent most of the season at or near the top of the division. And thanks to another September swoon from Texas, it ran away with its second straight division title and finished the year 96-66. This As lineup resembles more of the late 80s power teams in Oakland at the plate without the star power of a Jose Canseco or Mark McGwire, of course, as these As are led by a cast of virtual unknowns, including MVP candidate Josh Donaldson. Oaklands 186 homers were the third best in baseball, but the team managed to hit at just a .254 clip, while striking out 1,178 times. The As pitching staff was fronted by former AL Cy Young Award winner Bartolo Colon, who will be on the hill Friday. Colon turned back the clock to win 18 games this season and posted a 2.65 ERA, second only in the AL to the Tigers Anibal Sanchez (2.57). Colon, of course, did not pitch in last years ALDS, as he was serving a 50- game ban for testing positive for performance-enhancing drugs. Detroit, meanwhile, had no hangover from its trip to the Fall Classic, as it went 93-69 to win a third straight AL Central crown thanks to another amazing campaign from Miguel Cabrera, and despite a wildly inconsistent season from ace Justin Verlander. While Verlander struggled, the rest of the staff thrived, specifically Game 1 starter Max Scherzer, who enjoyed the best year of his career, as he won an MLB-best 21 games, while pitching to a 2.90 ERA and striking out 240 batters over a career-high 214 innings. In Verlander, Scherzer and Sanchez the Tigers produced three 200-strikeout pitchers on the same team for just the third time in history, the first since the 1969 Astros. Amazingly, the Tigers starting staff led the AL in almost every major category in spite of Verlander, who was only 13-12 and finished the year with his highest ERA (3.46), lowest strikeout rate (23.5 percent) and lowest innings total (218 1/3) since 2008 while battling reduced velocity. As good as their starting staff may have been, though, any conversation about the Tigers begins and ends with the great Cabrera, who came within an eyelash of a second straight Triple Crown. Cabrera may have fell short of his remarkable 2012 season, but still hit a career-high .348 to become the first player in more than two decades to win three straight AL batting titles. His 44 home runs were second to the 53 by Baltimores Chris Davis, and he finished second in RBI, one behind Davis 138. He batted .330 last year with 44 homers and 139 RBI. "I still had a good season," he said. "I have the same numbers I had last year, and we won the division." Cabrera is the first right-handed batter in either league to win three straight batting titles since Rogers Hornsbys six straight for the St. Louis Cardinals from 1920-25. Cabrera became just the fifth player to win three consecutive AL crowns, joining Nap Lajoie (1901-03), Ty Cobb (1907-09, 1911-15 and 1917-19), Rod Carew (1972-75) and Wade Boggs (1985-88). Detroit, which lost four of seven games against the As during the season, has beaten Oakland the last two times these teams have met in the postseason. The As only win against the Tigers in the playoffs came in the 1972 ALCS, which started a run of three consecutive world titles for Oakland. Kyle Lowry Raptors Jersey . made a diving catch in left field for the final out in a 1-0 victory over the Miami Marlins in a regular-season finale Sunday. Zimmermann (14-5) allowed only two baserunners, finishing with 10 strikeouts and one walk in the fifth no-hitter in the majors this year. OG Anunoby Jersey . “Momentum is only as good as the next days starter,” the long-time Baltimore Orioles manager famously quipped. http://www.nbaraptorsonline.com/Authentic-Pascal-Siakam-Jersey/ .ca presents its latest weekly power rankings for the 2013-14 Barclays Premier League season.The fight for Champions League qualification from the Premier League intensified Sunday, with Arsenal dismantling Aston Villa in its biggest win of the season and Southampton surrendering third place after a surprise home loss to Swansea.Mesut Ozil and Theo Walcott — starting their first league games after long injury lay-offs — were among Arsenals five different scorers in a 5-0 win at Emirates Stadium, continuing the free-scoring form of Arsene Wengers team and leaving relegation-threatened Villa with an unwanted record.For the first time in its 141-year history, Villa has gone six league games without a goal.Arsenal stayed fifth but is now level on points with Southampton, which failed to translate its dominance into goals before being caught out by Jonjo Shelveys 83rd-minute shot in a 1-0 defeat.A frustrating afternoon was complete for Southampton when left back Ryan Bertrand was sent off in the 89th for a dangerous tackle.Only five points separate third-place Manchester United and seventh-place Liverpool with 15 games remaining, in what is shaping up to be a scramble for the final two Champions League spots behind the top two of Chelsea and Manchester City.On current form, Arsenal is looking good to return to Europes top competition for an 18th straight season.With its injury problems finally relenting, Wengers attack-minded team has scored 15 goals in the last five games — all of them wins. And it didnt even miss injured star forward Alexis Sancchez on Sunday. OG Anunoby Raptors Jersey. A miserable afternoon for Villa began when Ozil flicked a long pass through to Olivier Giroud, who surged clear and chipped the goalkeeper in the eighth. The roles were reversed in the 56th, Giroud playing in Ozil for the Germany playmaker to slot a low finish into the corner.In the final half hour, Walcott finished off a counter-attack, Santi Cazorla converted a penalty and right back Hector Bellerin completed the rout in injury time.I believe that we should try to be consistent and see what happens, Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger said, when asked if it was too late to make a charge for the title.Arsenal is 11 points behind league leader Chelsea.It is more than 600 minutes since Villa scored in the Premier League and the team is two points and three places above the relegation zone.You probably cant print the things I am thinking, Villa manager Paul Lambert said.Southampton passed up a great chance to stay in third place, with Swansea appearing to be at the hosts mercy without suspended playmaker Gylfi Sigurdsson and having sold top scorer Wilfried Bony to Manchester City this month.Several chances were spurned by Southampton before Shelvey struck a fierce shot that goalkeeper Fraser Forster could only palm into the top corner of the net.They came for one point and they got three points, said Southampton manager Ronald Koeman, whose team had only lost twice at home this season — to the two Manchester giants. 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