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Five of ESPN.coms MLB beat writers who cover teams battling for wild-card berths were asked to make a case for why their team will be playing a do-or-die playoff game in October. Below, Katie Strang argues for the?Detroit Tigers?against fellow writers Eddie Matz (Baltimore Orioles), Andrew Marchand (New York Yankees), Mark Saxon (St. Louis Cardinals)?and Adam Rubin (New York Mets).For more on the other contenders, check out Wild-card Wednesday. Strang: After missing the playoffs last year for the first time since 2010, the Detroit Tigers appear primed to secure a postseason berth in 2016 because their key offensive contributors are swinging the bats well at precisely the right time. Look at the clubs big boppers -- Miguel Cabrera, J.D. Martinez and Justin Upton, who are all crushing the ball in September. Factor in that second baseman Ian Kinsler is also scorching hot this month (.314), and his fellow infielder Nick Castellanos is aiming to return within the next week, and the Tigers have one of the most potent lineups in baseball. Beyond that, the Tigers are in the midst of 17 consecutive games against American League Central teams, providing them ample opportunity to make up ground against divisional opponents.Marchand: If the Tigers dont make the playoffs, it is all on them. While the majority of the wild-card contenders are in the AL East beating each other up, the Tigers only have to just worry about becoming complacent as they face a much easier road.Matz: When it comes the wild card, gaining ground on divisional opponents matters not. What does matter is winning, and given that seven of those 17 AL Central games are against an Indians squad thats owned Detroit this year (11-1), well -- good luck with that.Saxon: You lost me when you started spouting facts and evidence. Im just not a big fan of aging, slugging teams with no athleticism and iffy relief pitching in October.Rubin: The Tigers fatal flaw will be their rotation. In a seven-start stretch that also included an absence for a lat issue, Jordan Zimmermann has a 4.94 ERA. Beyond that, three kids in the rotation are unproven. Air Max 97 Off White Wolf Grey Menta . Parker had 26 points and eight assists and San Antonio beat Toronto 112-99 Monday night. "We won that game because of Tony Parkers aggressiveness," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. "His juice; his aggression all night long. New Air Max 97 2019 . On June 12, just as the sun sets on the magnificent historical city of Sao Paulo the inventors, innovators and purveyors of “joga bonitowill” open their campaign. The opponent, Croatia and all its football might and will. As opposites do attract we are set for a corker of an opener. http://www.outletairmax97.com/air-max-97-mens-clearance.html . Takahashi, who had a 10-point lead after the short program, received 268.31 points after the free skate to finish 15 points ahead of second-place Nobunari Oda. Air Max 97 Ultra 17 Silver Bullet . Boucher previously coached the Tampa Bay Lightning and had a 97-78-20 record over two-plus seasons. He was dismissed by the team last March after the Lightning struggled in the lockout-shortened season with a 13-18-1 record. Air Max 97 Just Do It White . It just didnt show when he hit the ice. Berra made 42 saves and Kris Russell scored at 1:32 of overtime, lifting the Calgary Flames to a 3-2 victory over the Chicago Blackhawks on Sunday night. NEW YORK -- Colorado had to rebound from its first loss of the season and the Buffaloes did by rebounding.George King had 12 points and 13 rebounds to lead Colorado to a 68-54 victory over No. 22 Texas on Tuesday in the third-place game of the Legends Classic at Barclays Center.King, who matched his career high for rebounds which he set on Monday, led the big rebounding game for the Buffaloes (4-1), who finished with a 41-32 advantage on the boards including 17-12 on the offensive glass. Colorado scored 18 second-chance points.Huge, Colorado coach Tad Boyle said of his teams rebounding. Thats really where you find out where the toughness comes from. Thats the stat that just shows up. Every game that we have youre either plus or youre minus. Last night Notre Dame outrebounded us. Today we outrebounded Texas by nine and thats a big number. We want plus eight, thats our goal and we hit it.And it was King who led the charge to the boards.George, the second half last night and tonight, he played (like) the light bulb was maybe coming on for him, Boyle said. He was terrific on the boards but I thought our whole team was.Derrick White had 16 points for Colorado, which lost 89-83 to Notre Dame in the semifinals, while Josh Fortune had 11.We needed that one, Boyle said. Its crazy to think in November you feel its a must win but thats how I felt approaching this game today for our team in terms of what it meant for down the road. You come to a place like this, you dont want to go home 0-2.Kerwin Roach Jr. led Texas (3-2) with 16 points and Jarrett Allen had 15.Colorado, despite giving up size on the inside, used offensive rebounding to take a 33-24 halftime lead. Led by King, a 6-foot-6 junior, the Buffaloes were up 16-2 at one point on the offensive glass and Texas had no answer.The Longhorns, who lost to Northwestern 77-58 in the semifinals, used full court pressure to force turnovers and they were within 54-51 with 5:12 left on two free throws by Allen.But Colorado went on an 11-2 run that was capped by -- what else? -- an offensive rebound by Wesley Gordon to match their biggest lead to that points.King said hes concentrating on rebounding.Absolutely. Im long, atthletic, he said.dddddddddddd Why not use it because Im not going to have it forever.Texas was 3 for 17 from 3-point range while the Buffaloes made 6 of 14 from beyond the arc.I think for our guys, you never want to lose and you never feel good about losing, Texas coach Shaka Smart said. Theyre certainly down. I think anyone in our program is disappointed but Ill tell you what if you cant have a clear mind for what goes into what we need to do next, then youre in the wrong locker room. I think this has gotten our guys attention from the standpoint of some of the things we preach as coaches all the time, which is you have to have a level of humility in your preparation to understand what you have to do to take away what other teams are trying to do.Sometimes experience is the best teacher and unfortunately these two games we experienced here in New York, theyre tough pills to swallow. But if we can learn a lesson from them they can help us as we move forward.BIG PICTURE:Texas: The Longhorns will have to decide on which point guard will run the offense and they will have to work on the inside rotation. After averaging over 80 points a game in their first three, the Longhorns averaged 56 points per game in the tournament.Colorado: The Buffaloes have a deep roster and coach Tad Boyle has kept everyones minutes close with nobody averaging more than 28.5 minutes.POLL IMPLICATIONS:With the two losses in the Legends Classic Texas will almost certainly drop out of the Top 25. The Longhorns can still make a run at being ranked with all the Big 12 games to come.OLD FOES:Texas leads the all-time series with Colorado 14-10. The two were both in the Big 12 until Colorado left for the Pac-12.TURNING IT OVER: Texas had 11 turnovers and just four assists against Colorado. That leaves their assist-to-turnover ratio for the season at 51-56.UP NEXT:Texas: The Longhorns face Texas-Arlington at home on Tuesday and then host Alabama on Dec. 2.Colorado: The Buffaloes head back to Boulder for games with Wofford and Colorado State on Nov. 27 and Nov. 30. ' ' '