MLB Playoffs: The 3 Stars from the Detroit Tigers Game 2 Win over the Yankees

Who would have thought that rain would be the biggest story of the Detroit Tigers and New York Yankees ALDS matchup.

The Detroit Tigers have one of baseball's best starters and hitters while the Yankees are, well, the Yankees, but torrential downpours have been what we've talked about the most.

Mother Nature dealt the teams a tough blow in Game 1, delaying the duel between Justin Verlander and CC Sabathia.  Instead we saw a Yankees rout the next day as Doug Fister and Ivan Nova played as fill-in starters for the continuation of the the suspended game.

The Tigers seemed to be more affected by the suspension of the game because, per MLB rules, they were forced to continue to use their lineup for lefties that they had in place from Friday's game on Saturday.

They seemed to be confused by righty Nova early and never recovered.

The elements, however returned the favor Sunday. Twice it appeared that the Yankees were about to make a run at the Tigers and both times a downpour occurred, perhaps affecting the stacked Yankee lineup's ability to complete the comeback.

Despite the elements being the biggest story of the series thus far, there were several players who deserved recognition.  And, of course, in true Hockeytown tradition, we'll identify the top players by using hockey's "Three Stars" tradition.

Third Star - Joaquin Benoit

With no outs in the bottom of the seventh inning, Max Scherzer appeared to hit a wall.  He walked Nick Swisher and let up a single to Jorge Posada to start the frame.

Jim Leyland pulled Scherzer and normally would turn to Al Alburquerque or Phil Coke in those situations, however Alburquerque pitched Saturday and Coke has been ineffective as of late.  In perhaps his best move of the season, Leyland turned to set-up man, Joaquin Benoit.

Benoit quickly snuffed the Yankees no-out rally by getting Russell Martin to fly out and striking out Eric Chavez and Derek Jeter. 

Benoit did allow a solo home run to Curtis Granderson in the eighth, but dispatched the remaining heart of the Yankees' lineup by striking out Robinson Cano and getting Alex Rodriguez and Mark Teixeira to pop-up.

Benoit was electric and made the best hitters in the Yankees' lineup look confused.

Second Star - Miguel Cabrera

After a disappointing showing in Game 1, the Tigers desperately needed to get off to a good start in Game 2.  Miguel Cabrera delivered.

Cabrera's opposite field, two-out home run in the top of the first inning proved huge for the Tigers as Max Scherzer was able to pitch aggressively ("effectively wild," as the TBS team called him) with a lead.

Cabrera chipped in once again in top of the sixth-inning with a key one-out single with runners at the corners, and made a fine running catch on a pop-up in foul territory.

Overall, Cabrera was 3-4 with 3 RBIs and looked every bit the MVP candidate he is.

First Star - Max Scherzer

What an impressive, gutty performance by Scherzer.  Often times maligned and labeled as an underachiever, Scherzer was dominant in throwing nearly six innings of no-hit baseball for the Tigers against an extremely dangerous lineup.

He pitched out of his own trouble in the first after walking Cano and Rodriguez before getting Teixeira to pop-up to end the inning, then cruised until the seventh.

It's easy to forget that Scherzer was Justin Verlander's sidekick before the Tigers traded for Doug Fister, but Scherzer looked awesome when the Tigers needed him most.

In the most important start of his career, Scherzer proved a lot of people wrong and might have saved the series for the Tigers. 

If they move on, his start could very well be what we remember the most about this series, and he could make what was regarded as a good rotation, even better.