Sure, New York heads into October baseball having lost four in a row and comes face-to-face with a team that was 45-24 in the second half. New York, however, hasn’t been putting its full squad out there after locking up the division, and Justin Verlander sports non-Justin Verlander numbers (4-3, 3.97 ERA) against the Yankees in his career. Doug Fister, despite pitching lights out since donning a Tigers uniform, has a 6.00 ERA in three career starts against the Bombers. He also has no postseason experience. For a team that hit the most home runs in the bigs in 2011 as the Yankees have, Detroit won’t be able to afford many mistakes, especially not to MVP candidate Curtis Granderson, who hit a career high 41 home runs and led the league in RBI with 119.

Oh, Detroit. Sporting streaks of seven games for season-highs in both wins and losses, the Tigers were the definition of a hot-and-cold team in 2011. Suddenly, however, they became the hottest team in the league in August and September, compiling a 38-16 record over the past two months. And what’s not to like? Justin Verlander is making us deeply consider naming a pitcher as MVP, the offense has come on and Jose Valverde didn’t blow a save all year. The big concern? Detroit’s pitching rotation has a career postseason record of 4-4. And three of those wins came from — gulp — Brad Penny.

You’d be out of your mind to bet against the Rays right now. After perhaps the most unprecedented and impressive September comeback in major league history, the St. Pete mojo is rising and Evan Longoria might be rewriting the definition of the word “clutch.” Having said that, the “little team that could” might run out of steam against the teams that built themselves for postseason runs. And don’t forget: David Price pitched on Wednesday night and got lit up in a game in which James Shields was warming up in the bullpen in extra innings. Nobody would be surprised to see Tampa Bay pull off another upset, but nobody would be surprised if they didn’t, either.

Ian Kennedy (21-4, 2.88 ERA) and Justin Upton (.289, 31 HR, 88 RBI) are clearly the catalysts for this team, but one cannot overlook what the bullpen has provided. When closer J.J. Putz enters a game, the Diamondbacks win. Since June 29, the D-backs are a perfect 26-0 in games which Putz pitches, and the right-hander has converted 24 straight opportunities while posting a 0.77 ERA during that span. If the Brewers want to get to this team, they better do it early, because Putz and Co. do not give up too many leads.