The Truth about Verlander

All hail AL Cy Young winner Justin Verlander.

Detroit's presence in the playoffs has some fans running scared. How will anyone beat Verlander? He of the 24-5 record and 2.40 ERA!? What about Miguel Cabrera, Victor Martinez, Alex Avila, Austin Jackson, Jhonny Peralta, and every other All-Star they field!? And DOUG FISTER!!

Okay, I jest. The Tigers scare me just about as much as the Red Sox scare the Orioles right now. In fact, I would like to point out some interesting stats about Verlander.

24-5 is impressive. What we should focus on however is not the overall numbers, but rather who the competition was at the time. Let's put it into relevancy and take only AL playoff contenders (I'll add the Rays in as the Wild Card).

Against the Yankees, 0-0, 4.50 ERA with Detroit taking the loss in both games. Verlander faced them twice in the beginning of the year and that was it. He and CC squared off in the season opener and will do so again in the ALDS.

Against the Rangers, 0-1, 2.00 ERA complete game loss. Faced them once in April, went the distance, lost.

Against the Rays, 1-0, 4.31 ERA. Got hit for 6 earned runs back in May then played them in August where he limited them to 3 hits and 1 earned run.

So he hasn't done exactly the best against the AL Playoff opponents. He played them in the beginning of the year before he heated up? And he leads the leagues in strikeouts!

I'm tired of all this hoopla around Verlander. I don't care what they say. He beats up on middling teams (the AL Central is full of them). Let's take a look!

He has 34 starts. Of those 34, he has faced teams .500 or lower 24 times. He has won 21 of those games. An .875 win percentage! Of the ten remaining games with teams over .500, he is 2-2 with 4 no decisions. Not really inspiring confidence there, bud. Of the 34 starts, he has faced an AL Central team 15 times. His record against them is 14-1.

On May 24, he had an ERA of 3.42. That's when he really lowered his ERA down to the 2.15 mark which made him the clear AL CY front runner. Who did he play in that stretch of time? Nine teams, only 3 of which are .500 + teams.

I'm just putting it out there. I don't think he CAN'T be beaten. No double negatives! I think he can be beaten. . .

See ya next time for Playoff Updates!