Detroit Tigers
Ace: Justin Verlander
Starting Pitcher 2: Hal Newhouser
Starting Pitcher 3: Mickey Lolich
Starting Pitcher 4: Dizzy Trout
Back of the Rotation: Jack Morris
Verlander is the unquestioned ace of this team. His prolific nature as a durable strike-thrower with plus-stuff is legendary. The future Hall of Famer has succeeded in Houston for quite some time, but his time as a Tiger shouldn’t be forgotten. For the Tigers alone, Verlander has six All-Star appearances and an MVP Award on his resume. Hal Newhouser — a Detroit native with 200 career wins for the franchise — is a very solid No. 2 guy.
Image Source: Diamond Images, Focus on Sport, Louis Reqeuna, Mark Cunningham/MLB/Getty Images
Kansas City Royals
Ace: Bret Saberhagen
Starting Pitcher 2: Kevin Appier
Starting Pitcher 3: Dennis Leonard
Starting Pitcher 4: Zack Greinke
Back of the Rotation: Paul Splittorff
The Royals don’t have an exceptionally strong group of arms to pull from compared to some of the other franchises historically speaking. Greinke flashed some real talent in Kansas City — but enjoyed more success elsewhere. Saberhagen was highly productive, though. He won two Cy Young Awards with the Royals, and that included a 23-win year in 1989 (he also helped win the team a World Series and was the WS MVP in the process). Appier had really good stuff — yet only made one All-Star appearance.
Image Source: Focus On Sport, Mitchell Layton, Ron Vesely/MLB/Getty Images
