Written by
Associated Press
The first of three deciding games in the first round of the baseball playoffs will be contested tonight in New York.
The Yankees are hosting the Detroit Tigers for Game 5 of their AL division series, with the winner moving on the play Texas in Game 1 of the best-of-seven AL championship series on Saturday.
The Rangers finished off a 3-1 ALDS victory over Tampa Bay on Tuesday. Both the Yanks and Tigers originally planned to use their aces twice in the series, but those plans went down the drain when rain caused Friday's opener to be suspended after 1½ innings.
That pushed back New York's CC Sabathia and Detroit's Justin Verlander to Game 3. So tonight, the home team hands the ball to Ivan Nova. The right-hander led major league rookies in wins with a 16-4 record and 3.70 ERA.
In his postseason debut, he took over from Sabathia in the completion of Game 1 and pitched shutout ball until the ninth inning of the Yankees' 9-3 win.
The Tigers will go with Game 1 loser Doug Fister. Both National League division series are going the distance and will be settled Friday night when Philadelphia hosts St. Louis and Milwaukee entertains Arizona.
The Cardinals and Diamondbacks posted must-wins on their home field Wednesday night to keep their seasons alive.
The Associated Press