WORLD SERIES
Game 3 • Saturday, Oct. 27
Comerica Park
Game time: 8:07 p.m.
TV: FOX
Series: San Francisco leads, 2-0


The Tigers bring the World Series back to Detroit, but they have their backs against the wall, having lost both of the first two games in San Francisco.

Of the 52 teams that have jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the 107 previous World Series, 41 of those (78.8 percent) have gone on to win the title.

The team to go up 2-0 has won each of the last eight times it’s happened, and 13 of the last 14. The 1996 Yankees were the last team to come back from an 0-2 deficit in the World Series.

Franchise history is no kinder to the Tigers. The only time in 11 appearances the Tigers lost the first two games of the World Series, 1908, they lost the series to the Chicago Cubs, 4-1. (Technically, the Tigers went down 0-2-1 to the Cubs in the 1907 series, after Game 1 ended in a 3-3 tie after 12 innings. The Tigers did not win a game in that series.) They split the first two games in the other nine appearances.

It's perhaps unsurprising that the Tigers — who went 38-43 on the road in the regular season — have struggled away from home in the playoffs, going 3-4 so far. All four of those losses have come in the Bay Area, two at San Francisco and two at Oakland. After racking up a 50-31 home record in the regular season, the Tigers are 4-0 at home so far in the playoffs.

Here are the lineups: (as of 3:30, the Giants had not set their lineup yet).


DETROIT TIGERS: 
Austin Jackson, CF
*Quintin Berry, LF
Miguel Cabrera, 3B (1-for-5, 2K/1BB vs. Vogelsong)
*Prince Fielder, 1B (0-for-3, 1K vs. Vogelsong)
Delmon Young, DH (1-for-3 vs. Vogelsong)
*Andy Dirks, RF (0-for-3 vs. Vogelsong)
Jhonny Peralta, SS (1-for-2, 1BB, 1 RBI vs. Vogelsong)
*Alex Avila, C (0-for-1, 2 BB vs. Vogelsong)
Omar Infante, 2B (7-for-11 vs. Vogelsong)

STARTING PITCHER: Anibal Sanchez, RHP
2012 regular season (with Tigers): 4-6, 3.74 ERA, 12 GS, 1 SHO, 74.2 IP, 81H, 31 ER, 57K/15BB
2012 postseason: 1-1, 2 GS, 13.1 IP, 1.35 ERA, 8H, 2 ER, 10K/5BB

SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS: (lineup has not been set yet)
#Angel Pagan, CF (6-for-23, 3-2B, 6 RBI, 4K vs. Sanchez)
Marco Scutaro, 2B
#Pablo Sandoval, 3B  (1-for-6, 1K vs. Sanchez)
Buster Posey, C (1-for-8, 4K/1BB vs. Sanchez)
Hunter Pence, RF (6-for-18, 1-2B, 2 RBI vs. Sanchez)
*Brandon Belt, 1B (2-for-6, 1 RBI, 1K vs. Sanchez)
*Gregor Blanco, LF (4-for-7, 1-3B, 2K/2BB, 2 RBI vs. Sanchez)

#Hector Sanchez, DH

*Brandon Crawford, SS (0-for-5, 4K vs. Sanchez)

*—left-handed hitter
#—switch hitter

STARTING PITCHER: Ryan Vogelsong, RHP
2012 regular season: 14-9, 3.37 ERA