Everybody wanted to run Jose Valverde out-of-town on Thursday night after giving up game four to the A’s and sent Detroit to a ‘win or go home’ game five.  In that game, Justin Verlander showed why he was the AL MVP and Cy Young last season in a dominating win to send the Tigers to the ALCS against the Yankees.

So how did this help you ask?  Well some managers would try to pitch their ace in games one, four and seven; but we all know Jim Leyland wouldn’t do that so if the series with Oakland hadn’t gone to five games JV would have only pitched games one and five.  Now he is going to pitch in games three and a potential game seven, which becomes advantage Detroit no matter who the Yankees send on the mound.

Also the rest of the rotation is set up on normal rest starting with Doug Fister in game one, Max Scherzer in game two, JV in three, Sanchez in four and then Fister, Scherzer and JV to finish it out if necessary.

The Yankees on the other hand have their rotation in shambles as Andy Pettitte in game one while game two is still a mystery.  It will either be Hiroki Kuroda on short rest or David Phelps who had a 4-4 record with an ERA of 3.34 and 1.19 WHIP in almost 100 innings.

If Phelps starts game two then Kuroda would start game three and CC Sabathia would start game four and then a potential game seven on short rest which would also be advantage Tigers.

It would have been important for the Tigers to have Verlander start game one of the series, but Doug Fister is also up to the task and should be able to hold the Yankees at bay.

Now I’m not saying I was happy to see the Tigers lose and for Valverde to completely melt down, but there was a benefit to it.  With the Yankees being forced to a game five by the Orioles didn’t hurt anything either.

So fans is the fact that the Tigers rotation is in order and JV could pitch a potential game seven a saving grace for the loss by Valverde or would you rather have Verlander going in game one and five instead?  Let us know at @DSBloggers on Twitter or on Facebook or in the comments below to tell us what you, the fans, think.