Three reasons why Orioles can beat Tigers and three reasons why they may not

From the "Did you know?" department ...

Nelson Cruz pretty much single-handedly destroyed the Detroit Tigers while with Texas in the 2011 American League Championship Series.

As the Rangers won that series in six games, Cruz went 8-for-22 with two doubles, six homers, 13 RBIs, a 1.273 slugging percentage and 1.713 OPS. He hit the first postseason walk-off grand slam in Game 2 of that series.

His six homers and 13 RBIs are the most by one player in one postseason series in baseball history.

In 34 career playoff games, Cruz is batting .278 with 14 homers, 27 RBIs and a 1.018 OPS.

If the Tigers start some combination of Max Scherzer, David Price and Justin Verlander in the first three games of the American League Division Series, the Orioles will be facing the last three American League Cy Young Award winners.

Verlander went 24-5 with a 2.40 ERA to win it in 2011. Price went 20-5 with a 2.56 ERA to win in 2012 for Tampa Bay. Scherzer, the Tigers' likely Game 1 starter, won it for Detroit last year, going 21-3 with a 2.90 ERA.

The Orioles' last Cy Young Award winner, by the way, was Steve Stone, who went 25-7 with a 3.23 ERA in 1980. Jim Palmer won Cy Young Awards in 1973, 1975 and 1976.

The Tigers have the bigger names, but the Orioles pitched better this year with a team ERA of 3.43 to rank third in the AL, while Detroit was 11th at 4.01. In starting pitcher ERA, the Orioles rank fifth at 3.61, while Detroit is 10th at 3.89.

Taking a look at the O's-Tigers ALDS, here are three things that could go right for the Orioles:

O's starters could outpitch Detroit: We just showed the stats. The Tigers have the bigger names and better resumes, but the Orioles rotation pitched better this year.

Chris Tillman starts the opener, but the O's who go after that - Wei-Yin Chen, Miguel Gonzalez and Bud Norris - have all pitched well late in the year. The Orioles seem as likely to get a big game from whoever then deem their No. 3 or No. 4 as they are from their No. 1 or No. 2.

The O's could mash some homers: The easily Orioles led the majors in homers, hitting 211. It is a big part of what they do. They went 26-1 this year when hitting three or more homers. Will the longball be a big part of their October offense? As the regular season ended, Adam Jones hit four homers his last eight games, Steve Pearce hit 10 over 29 games and Nelson Cruz hit six over his past 27 games. The middle of the order looks ready.

But the Orioles will be challenged by a Tigers staff that allowed just 127 homers, second fewest in the AL to Los Angeles, which allowed only 126. It is an interesting matchup of a homer-happy team against a staff that doesn't yield many longballs.

The O's bullpen could be dominant: The Orioles have a big edge on paper here with a bullpen ERA of 3.10 that ranked third in the AL to Detroit's 4.29, which ranked 13th.

O's closer Zach Britton has an ERA of 1.65 and an 0.90 WHIP. Detroit closer Joe Nathan has an ERA of 4.81 and a 1.53 WHIP.

If the O's starters can turn over a lead to their bullpen in the seventh or even the sixth, the Orioles can shorten the game and play to their biggest strength - and potentially their biggest edge in this series.

What could go wrong for the O's?

The Tigers offense could come up big: Detroit's big one-two punch of Miguel Cabrera and Victor Martinez hit .367 (18-for-49) with three homers and 10 RBIs against the Orioles this year. Cabrera did most of the damage, going 10-for-25 (.400) with two homers and nine RBIs.

Cabrera is a feared hitter, but Martinez has had a huge year, leading the AL in OBP (.409) and OPS (.974) while finishing second in batting average (.335) and slugging (.565)

Detroit led the league in batting average and finished second in runs, and will provide a huge challenge for O's pitchers.

Tigers starters could pitch to their resumes: Having three Cy Young Award winners in your rotation sounds pretty good. But the O's did outpitch them this year. However, when you have a pedigree like that there is always the chance these big name pitchers dial it up and hold down the O's bats.

The O's could have more issues at third base: This has become a big concern for the team. Manny Machado seems to be the one player that they have not been able to replace. Does Ryan Flaherty get the starts at third in this series? He's been a solid defender but even he struggled with some throws late in the year. The Tigers' Nick Castellanos can have his own issues at the hot corner, so third base defense could be a key for both teams in this series.

Checking some links:

* This story details the Tigers run' to another division title with a different cast that no longer includes Prince Fielder and Jim Leyland.

* Here are some props for first-year Tigers manager Brad Ausmus.

* This writer talks about the Bashing Birds of Baltimore.

* Check out this ESPN predictions article from Jayson Stark. He polled execs from around Major League Baseball and - spoiler alert - they like the Orioles to go pretty far.