The Detroit Tigers quest toward another pennant begins the same way it did a year ago, with a best-of-five American League Division Series against the Oakland Athletics. The As gave Detroit all it could handle last year, as the Tigers needed to win a decisive fifth game at O.co Coliseum to advance to the ALCS, where they swept the New York Yankees. Of course, Detroits run ended in the World Series, as it was swept in four games by the San Francisco Giants. Oakland may have been content with just making the playoffs last season, but its a different story this year for the As, who enter the postseason with perhaps the most complete team on the American League side. "We were just riding that emotion and certainly happy to be where we were," Oakland manager Bob Melvin said. "But the mindset was different this spring; the expectations were different." Last year, of course, the Athletics needed to win their final six games - including a three-game sweep of the Texas Rangers to close the regular season - to claim their first American League West title since 2006. Well, Oakland proved that last year was no fluke, as it has spent most of the season at or near the top of the division. And thanks to another September swoon from Texas, it ran away with its second straight division title and finished the year 96-66. This As lineup resembles more of the late 80s power teams in Oakland at the plate without the star power of a Jose Canseco or Mark McGwire, of course, as these As are led by a cast of virtual unknowns, including MVP candidate Josh Donaldson. Oaklands 186 homers were the third best in baseball, but the team managed to hit at just a .254 clip, while striking out 1,178 times. The As pitching staff was fronted by former AL Cy Young Award winner Bartolo Colon, who will be on the hill Friday. Colon turned back the clock to win 18 games this season and posted a 2.65 ERA, second only in the AL to the Tigers Anibal Sanchez (2.57). Colon, of course, did not pitch in last years ALDS, as he was serving a 50- game ban for testing positive for performance-enhancing drugs. Detroit, meanwhile, had no hangover from its trip to the Fall Classic, as it went 93-69 to win a third straight AL Central crown thanks to another amazing campaign from Miguel Cabrera, and despite a wildly inconsistent season from ace Justin Verlander. While Verlander struggled, the rest of the staff thrived, specifically Game 1 starter Max Scherzer, who enjoyed the best year of his career, as he won an MLB-best 21 games, while pitching to a 2.90 ERA and striking out 240 batters over a career-high 214 innings. In Verlander, Scherzer and Sanchez the Tigers produced three 200-strikeout pitchers on the same team for just the third time in history, the first since the 1969 Astros. Amazingly, the Tigers starting staff led the AL in almost every major category in spite of Verlander, who was only 13-12 and finished the year with his highest ERA (3.46), lowest strikeout rate (23.5 percent) and lowest innings total (218 1/3) since 2008 while battling reduced velocity. As good as their starting staff may have been, though, any conversation about the Tigers begins and ends with the great Cabrera, who came within an eyelash of a second straight Triple Crown. Cabrera may have fell short of his remarkable 2012 season, but still hit a career-high .348 to become the first player in more than two decades to win three straight AL batting titles. His 44 home runs were second to the 53 by Baltimores Chris Davis, and he finished second in RBI, one behind Davis 138. He batted .330 last year with 44 homers and 139 RBI. "I still had a good season," he said. "I have the same numbers I had last year, and we won the division." Cabrera is the first right-handed batter in either league to win three straight batting titles since Rogers Hornsbys six straight for the St. Louis Cardinals from 1920-25. Cabrera became just the fifth player to win three consecutive AL crowns, joining Nap Lajoie (1901-03), Ty Cobb (1907-09, 1911-15 and 1917-19), Rod Carew (1972-75) and Wade Boggs (1985-88). Detroit, which lost four of seven games against the As during the season, has beaten Oakland the last two times these teams have met in the postseason. The As only win against the Tigers in the playoffs came in the 1972 ALCS, which started a run of three consecutive world titles for Oakland. Wholesale NFL Jerseys . McCarthy, a player who played some games in the second tier for Wigan at the start of this season, would go on to shine inside Evertons midfield, outplaying the man he was brought in to replace, on one of the grandest stages in English football. 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He finished a disappointing campaign just 14-13 with a career-worst 4.SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- The San Francisco 49ers have promoted longtime executive Paraag Marathe to team president replacing Gideon Yu, who will remain with the organization as a co-owner. Marathe has spent more than 13 years with the 49ers in various roles, including as executive vice-president of football and business operations. Al Guido is taking over Marathes previous position as chief operating officer. The team made the announcements Tuesday, two days after the 49ers lost 23-17 in the NFC championship game at Seattle.dddddddddddd Guido has worked closely with the Santa Clara Stadium Authority during the construction of the $1.2 billion Levis Stadium, where the franchise will play starting next season. CEO Jed York says of Marathe and Guido, "I am deeply confident in their leadership." wholesale jerseys wholesale jerseys cheap soccer jerseys cheap nhl jerseys cheap jerseys ' ' '