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. Teez Tabor Jersey . 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. Paul Worrilow Jersey . - The Carolina Panthers believe Steve Smith lost "top-end" speed, a big reason the franchise parted ways with its all-time leading receiver. Akeem Spence Jersey . PAUL, Minn. http://www.lionsfanspro.com/Black-TJ-Jones-Lions-Jersey.html?cat=943 . The 20-year-old overager has appeared in 35 games for the Ontario Hockey Leagues Erie Otters this season, scoring 41 goals and adding 27 assists with a plus-28 rating.SAN JOSE, Calif. - A matchup with their fiercest rival was all it took for the San Jose Sharks to get their intensity back.Patrick Marleau and Joe Pavelski scored power-play goals to send the Sharks into the NHL All-Star break on a winning note with a 4-2 victory over the Los Angeles Kings on Wednesday night.We needed this game, Pavelski said. We know its going to be a competitive game when we play them and it needs to be that way. But it needs to be that way every night. Guys shored up and did that. Weve got to bottle it every night, weve got to compete.The Sharks had lacked that in recent games, losing back-to-back at home against Calgary and New Jersey. But they responded with a complete game against the Kings.Logan Couture scored twice and Antti Niemi made 15 of his 26 saves in the third period.Right off the start, the competition level was there, Pavelski said. When thats there and guys are engaged, all the small stuff seems to take care of itself.Dustin Brown and Jeff Carter scored for the Kings, who have lost seven of eight, although four came after regulation. Jonathan Quick made 21 saves.We have to do a better job in certain areas, defenceman Robyn Regehr said. We cant afford to give up two power-play goals and expect to win, especially on the road. We can all just do a better job.With the teams locked in a one-goal game in the third period, Pavelski gave the Sharks some needed insurance after Drew Doughty negated a Los Angeles power play by high-sticking Couture.The Sharks put pressure on Quick, who came out of his net to stop a shot by Marleau. Pavelski got to the rebound and knocked it in the open net for the 5,000th regular-season goal in San Jose history.Carter scored a power-play goal with 22.4 seconds to play but Couture got credit for an empty-net goal when he was hooked by Doughty in the closing seconds to seal it.The Sharks blew chances to build on a 1-0 lead when they failed to get shots off on a pair of 2-on-1 rushes, and Quick stopped Couture on a breakaway. Kerry Hyder Jersey. That proved costly when the Kings got the equalizer midway through the second on a wraparound by Brown.But Marleau answered when he redirected Coutures shot past Quick to give San Jose a 2-1 lead. It was just the second goal in 20 games for Marleau and his first on the power play since Nov. 8.The Kings made their only trip of the regular season to the Shark Tank and first since completing the comeback from a 3-0 series deficit by winning Game 7 of the first round here last April.That sent Los Angeles on its way to a second Stanley Cup title in three seasons and San Jose to a summer of soul-searching. Both teams have been inconsistent so far this season and fighting for playoff position in the tough Western Conference.San Jose goes into the break in second place in the Pacific Division with 56 points. Los Angeles is in fifth with 52 and would be out of the playoffs if the season ended now.Were disappointed in where we are in the standings right now, centre Anze Kopitar said. We have to take the next few days to figure that out. Its time to play desperate coming out of the break.There was good energy from the start with fans starting the Beat L.A.! chants before the opening faceoff, and Los Angeles Kyle Clifford getting into an early scrap with Brenden Dillon.Shortly after that fight, Couture gave San Jose the lead when he skated past Alec Martinez and beat Quick with a shot to the short side for his 17th goal.We have to capture that and be prepared to bring it to the rink after the break every night because its shaping up to be a very tight conference, coach Todd McLellan said.NOTES: It was Metallica Night with members of the band on hand to drop the opening puck and take part in other events. ... Niemi got his second assist of the season and seventh in his career on Coutures goal. ... The teams will play once more in the Bay Area next month in an outdoor game at Levis Stadium. 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