American League Divisional Playoffs Begin Today

Play in the American League divisional playoff series starts today in Baltimore and Anaheim, California.

In the first game of the day the Orioles are hosting Detroit with the pitching matchup featuring Max Scherzer of the Tigers against Chris Tillman of the O's. During the regular season Scherzer, the winner of the AL Cy Young Award last year, was 18-5 while Tillman was 13-6.

The Tigers once again won the AL Central Division while the Orioles won the AL East. Record-wise Baltimore had 96 wins against 66 defeats while the Tigers were 90-72.

If playoff experience and Cy Young Awards mean anything, the Tigers have to be favored as their first three pitchers, Scherzer, Justin Verlander and David Price, have three Cy Young Awards among them and 35 games of postseason experience.

Game 2 in the best-of-five affair will be played Friday afternoon.

Tonight's game has the Angels playing host to the Royals. KC advanced with a 12-inning win over Oakland in the AL Wild Card Game two nights ago.

Eighteen-game winner Jered Weaver is on the rubber for the Angels against 11-game winner Jason Vargas for the Royals.

Los Angeles racked up the best record in the American League this season with 98 wins and 64 defeats while the Royals finished second to the Tigers in the AL Central with 89 wins and 73 losses.

During the season the Royals and Angels met six times with each team winning three games.

The second game in that best-of-five series will be Friday evening.