2013 ALDS Game 5: Bartolo Colon or Sonny Gray for the Oakland A's?

The Oakland A's and Detroit Tigers are headed to Game 5 to determine the winner of their ALDS series and the right to challenge the Boston Red Sox in the ALCS for a spot in the World Series.

We know who Jim Leyland is choosing to start for Detroit in this do-or-die fifth game.  The 2011 Cy Young winner, Justin Verlander, will take the mound for the Tigers in Oakland on Thursday night.  

Meanwhile, A's manager Bob Melvin is yet to determine his starter for this must-win game, but it is clearly down to two options: Bartolo Colon and Sonny Gray.

Both pitchers have solid cases for the privilege and honor of being chosen to start the most important game of the season for their team.

Colon, despite losing in Game 1, has a solid case in that he won 18 games during the regular season, established himself as the A's ace and had an ERA of 2.65 during the season.  Many people will point towards Colon's disastrous first inning in Game 1, but he returned to his old form for the remainder of his start and did not allow another Tiger to score.

Gray, despite having only 11 major league starts under his belt, had the performance of a lifetime against Detroit in Game 2 and was just as much a reason as Stephen Vogt's walk-off hit that the A's won that pivotal matchup on Saturday night.  Gray gave up only four hits through eight innings and struck out nine as he made a powerful Detroit batting order look like a little league team going against him.

When comparing Colon and Gray, there is the short-sighted argument that because the A's won with Gray and lost with Colon, Gray should get the Game 5 start.  But can we really hold Gray to the standards that he set on Saturday night?

Gray is one of the best up-and-coming pitchers in the game, but to expect another masterpiece against the Tigers could be asking too much.  Now that the Tigers have gone against him for eight innings they have a better idea of what to expect from him, as opposed to Game 2 when he had the element of surprise on his side.

Gray is the hot hand and Colon is the savvy veteran who just had a Cy Young-caliber season.  This poses a problem for Bob Melvin, but at least it's a good problem to have.