Detroit at Cincinnati

The Reds are off to a nice start at 16-9. But the Tigers are the hotter team, winning 10 of their last 13 games. Detroit has a solid pitching advantage in this Game 1 series opener with Framber Valdez going against Andrew Abbott. Valdez is 83-53 in his big league career with a 3.36 ERA. He has been his usual solid self with the Tigers this season after eight years with the Astros. Valdez brings a 2-1 record with a 3.30 ERA and 1.20 WHIP into this matchup. He has the element of surprise as the Reds have never faced him. Abbott, a fourth-year hurler, finished eighth for the NL Cy Young Award last season. He has not followed through on that performance this season. That is putting it kindly, as Abbott is 0-2 with a 5.84 ERA and 1.74 ratio. The Reds have given up six runs in each of their past two games. Detroit is averaging 5.2 runs per game in its last five games. Take the Tigers.