The San Francisco Giants have surged to a 2-0 lead over the Detroit Tigers in the 2012 World Series. The schedule has the next three games being played in Detroit before finishing the series back in the Bay Area—as long as the Tigers can get a pair of wins at Comerica Park.
Jim Leyland will need to lean on his pitching staff to get into the win column. He'll send Anibal Sanchez, Max Scherzer and Game 1 loser Justin Verlander to the mound.
All three of those pitchers have been solid this postseason. They are a combined 5-2 in the playoffs and the three right-handers have a combined ERA of 1.71.
.png?w=256)
Verlander in particular prefers pitching in Comerica Park. His ERA was 1.65 there in 2012 vs. 3.57 on the road. His home record was 9-2 compared to 8-6 away.
While fans should be optimistic that pitching will keep them in games, Detroit also needs to generate some offense.
Miguel Cabrera and Prince Fielder will need to rebound in their home ballpark. The heart of Detroit's offense is just 2-for-11 with one RBI through the first two games.
That level of production simply isn't enough from a .330 and a .313 hitter with 74 home runs and 74 additional extra-base hits combined in 2012.
Cabrera discussed how he will approach the games in Detroit with Matthew Leach of MLB.com.
"I don't know how to say it, but our game is slow a little bit right now. I think we need to pick it up a little bit more, be more aggressive and try to get more lucky.
We had good at-bats. To me, I hit two line drives, I walked. But we need to get more aggressive, get more confident and try to win the first one.
"
Austin Jackson and Omar Infante also need to get on base and give the Tiger power hitters some RBI targets. It is difficult to pitch around both Cabrera and Fielder when they step up to the plate with bodies already on the bases.
World Series Schedule
| Game | Matchup | Date | Time (ET) | TV | Live Stream |
| Game 1 | Detroit 3, San Francisco 8 | ||||
| Game 2 | Detroit 0, San Francisco 2 | ||||
| Game 3 | San Francisco at Detroit | Sat, Oct. 27 | 8:00 p.m. | FOX | MLB TV |
| Game 4 | San Francisco at Detroit | Sun, Oct. 28 | 8:00 p.m. | FOX | MLB TV |
| Game 5* | San Francisco at Detroit | Mon, Oct. 29 | 8:00 p.m. | FOX | MLB TV |
| Game 6* | San Francisco at Detroit | Wed, Oct. 31 | 8:00 p.m. | FOX | MLB TV |
| Game 7* | San Francisco at Detroit | Thu, Nov. 1 | 8:00 p.m. | FOX | MLB TV |
* If necessary
Darin Pike is a writer for Bleacher Report's Breaking News Team and a Featured Columnist covering the NFL and the Seattle Seahawks.
.png?w=480)
.jpg?w=600 "Colts Release Kenny Moore")
