By Michael Kelley ’14 & Mick Kowaleski ’14

With the Detroit Tigers sweeping the New York Yankees in theALCS, and the San Francisco Giants defeating the St. Louis Cardinals in seven games in the NLCS, the World Series matchup is set. Who will walk away with the 2012 MLB Title?

Kowaleski: I’ve got to give a shoutout to my man Ben Brown, who in our 2012 MLB Preview predicted the Tigers to win the pennant and go to the World Series. I’m backing him now.

The Tigers boast the best pitcher in the Major Leagues in Justin Verlander and the best 3-4 combination in recent memory with Triple Crown King Miguel Cabrera and Prince Fielder. They held the mighty Yankees to a 0.66 ERA, the second-lowest of all-time. Verlander is worth three wins by himself and Doug Fister, Anibal Sanchez, and MaxScherzer are no slouches. These Giants are scrappy, and Barry Zito looks great, but the Tigers are well-rested following a sweep of the Yanks and I don’t think it will be close.

Tigers in five games, six maximum.

Brown: In this case, I hate being right because the Tigers beat the Yankees to get in, so I’m depressed.

Because of that, I’ll play devil’s advocate with you, though, and pick the Giants.  First, the Giants have the momentum after coming back from a 3-1 series deficit. The Tigers have been idle for a week, and in spite of their reported scrimmages against minor leaguers, they will be rusty.

San Fran’s rotation can hold its own against Detroit. Matt Cain, a Cy Young candidate, matches up nicely with Verlander.NLCS heroes Ryan Vogelsong and Barry Zito figure to continue paralyzing hitters.

The Giants’ offense relies on small ball and scrappy play, not home runs like the Yankees. A more composed, creative, and disciplined offense ought to present problems for Detroit’s pitching, especially their struggling closer, Jose Valverde.

Giants win in six

The 2012-13 NBA campaign kicks off on October 30th. After LeBron James captured his first title with the Miami Heat in the previous season, the question remains: can anybody stop the Heat in their repeat?

Kowaleski: No. And I’ll tell you why: Mike, I’m sad that we didn’t have a Mike’D Up during the midst of the Eastern Conference Finals, when the Heat were down two games to the Boston Celtics’ three. Everybody was writing them off, calling LeBron a choke artist, can’t finish games, blah blah blah. It was then that I turned to my friend Taylor and made the biggest, gutsiest prediction of my life:

“This is where LeBron starts making his case against MJ.”

You remember Game Six, I’m sure. LeBron was a blank-faced assassin that night, posting a 45-15-5 statline in his single-handed evisceration of the Celtics. Best performance I’ve ever seen. Ever. The Heat embarrassed the Thunder in the Finals. Why do I bring this up?

LeBron knows who he is now. He knows his role. He knows what he needs to do in order to win a Finals series. Now that he’s figured it out, he’ll be even more unstoppable than before. I think the Heat will win the next two championships, if not the next three. Not the Thunder, not the Celtics, not even the now impressive Lakers can stop LeBron from making a strong argument against Michael Jordan for best player of all time.

Kelley: Bold words, Mick. And you make so many good points, but here I am (as always) to shoot them down with an argument for why those “impressive” Los Angeles Lakers will win this year’s NBA Championship over the Miami Heat.

Let’s start down low with the NBA’s newest version of the twin towers, Dwight Howard and Pau Gasol. Everyone knows Howard over-powers his opponents, which leaves Gasol as the key. If Head Coach Mike Brown can find the correct utilization of Gasol, this tandem will be dominating. Gasol has all the skills, but last season, looked uncomfortable and out of place. Brown needs to maximize his talents and this team can soar. Needless to ask, but are you really expecting Chris Bosh to stop these two monsters?

As if Howard wasn’t enough, let’s throw in Steve Nash to the mix, possibly the Lakers best point guard since the days of Ervin “Magic” Johnson. Nash runs the open floor as well as anyone and now has two seven footers to lob passes to.

And oh boy, it keeps coming. The finishing kicker is Kobe aka “The Black Mamba.” If for some strange reason the Lakers find themselves in a close game, here comes Kobe to close it out.

Starting to rethink that argument yet? Come on, Mick. There is simply too much talent on this roster to dismiss.