2011 MLB Playoff Schedule: Cards Stacked Against Tigers in Game 5 vs. Yankees

The Detroit Tigers had a golden opportunity to end the American League Division Series once and for all on Tuesday. They were at home for Game 4, and the New York Yankees were running perennial punching bag A.J. Burnett out to the mound.

Against all odds, the Tigers lost. Burnett was surprisingly solid, and the Yankee bats exploded for 10 runs. The Tigers managed just one run.

One way or another, the series will come to an end on Thursday. Game 5 will be played in Yankee Stadium, with the first pitch scheduled to be thrown at 8:00 p.m. ET.

The pitching matchup is one that could go either way. Young phenom and Game 1 winner Ivan Nova will be on the hill for the Yankees, and Game 1 loser Doug Fister will be on the mound for the Tigers.

At the outset of the series, Fister and Nova were down to square off in Game 2. At the time, it looked like the Tigers had a slight edge, as Fister was virtually unbeatable for the Tigers after coming over in a trade from the Seattle Mariners. He went 8-1 with the Tigers, posting a very impressive 1.79 ERA.

But if Fister's performance in Game 1 taught us anything, it's that his bag of smoke and mirrors may not be good enough to fool the Yanks. They got him for two walks and seven hits in four and two-thirds innings—a surprising amount of base runners for a guy who posted a WHIP of 0.84 with Detroit.

That the Yanks were able to do this should have come as no surprise. Grinding out at-bats and getting on base is something they've always been good at, and their ability to do so this year was reflected by their collective .343 on-base percentage—a figure that ranked second in the American League.

Fister could go out and keep the Yankees under wraps, but it seems more reasonable to expect otherwise. He may not get rocked, but the Yankees are going to get their hits, and they're going to get runs.

The pressure will be on the Tigers to return the favor against Nova. They had their chances against him back in Game 1, as they worked Nova for four walks and four hits in six and a third, but they managed just two runs against him. By the time they got them, the game was well out of reach.

Needless to say, the Tigers need to put some runs on the board a little earlier. The last thing they want is to be in a hole in the later innings, as they will be forced to mount a comeback against the likes of David Robertson and Mariano Rivera.

If needed, Joe Girardi could even call in CC Sabathia to get a few outs. Sabathia told Andrew Marchand of ESPNNewYork.com that he is "definitely available" to pitch in Game 5.

The same cannot be said of Justin Verlander. According to Hardball Talk, Jim Leyland doesn't plan on using him in Game 5.

Meanwhile, all of this will be happening in the Yankees' home ballpark, a place where they went an AL-best 52-29 this year.

Make no mistake, the Tigers are going to have their work cut out for them in Game 5. This is not to say that they're doomed to lose, but they are more in danger of losing than the Yankees are.

No matter what happens, we're going to find out what the Tigers are made of.