Two All-Stars, One Spot. Who gets the title as the “Ace” for the Tigers in 2014?

The Detroit Tigers fell short of making it to the World Series in 2013, losing to the Boston Red Sox 4-2 in the ALCS. However, their expectations in 2014 couldn’t be any higher. The Tigers have one of the most feared lineups in the American League when they are in mid-season stride. According to sportingcharts.com, the Tigers scored 796 runs in 2013, second behind the Red Sox. With Triple Crown winner Miguel Cabrera dealing with injuries for most of the year, he is still one of the favorites to win the MVP this year.

Probably the biggest strength the Tigers will have to make another run for a World Series is their starting pitching. Pitcher Max Scherzer had his best season of his career, finishing with a record of 21-3 and is the clear favorite to win the American League Cy Young award. It would be the second time in the last three years that a Detroit pitcher wins the award. Pitcher Justin Verlander won the award in 2011 along with the MVP as well. Over the off-season, Verlander signed a 5-year contract extension worth $180 million dollars to keep him in Detroit through 2019. 2013 wasn’t one of Verlander’s best seasons statistically, but that was due to a change in his command in which he said he was able to fix later in the year, when his stats started to improve.

So that being said, it sounds like Detroit has two pitchers who could be their Ace. But with Manager Jim Leyland stepping down shortly after the Tigers were eliminated from the playoffs, the new manager of 2014 will have a tough decision to make. Who will start Opening Day?

Now presumably, the Opening Day pitcher is considered the Ace. The manager is saying that the pitcher is the number one guy on the staff who will lead the starting rotation. To start the 2013 playoffs, Jim Leyland went with Scherzer to start game one and Verlander to start game two of the series. But when game five came around, instead of going back to Scherzer, Leyland went with Verlander to close out the series, and he did.

To me, Scherzer should be the Ace of the rotation in 2014. Scherzer has gotten better over the past two seasons and is poised to have another sensational year in 2014. With an ERA of 2.90 in 2013 and 240 strikeouts, both career numbers, Scherzer could easily be the Ace for any team in the Majors and should be in 2014 for the Tigers.

Now don’t get me wrong, I am a huge Verlander fan and love his tenacious and aggressive pitching. He isn’t afraid of any hitters, he doesn’t really scout his opponents, and he still is able to go out and be successful. But in 2013, his numbers did fall a little compared to previous years. Now if the Tigers make the playoffs in 2014 which they should, Verlander is the pitcher who you start in a deciding game. In 2012, Verlander went on the road to Oakland in a game five and shutdown the Athletics to send the Tigers to the ALCS. In 2013, the same story. Verlander goes to Oakland and once again shuts down the Athletics to send the Tigers to the ALCS. He lives for games like that.

For a full season, Max Scherzer would be my Ace pitcher and Verlander obviously would be number two. But in the playoffs, I would send Verlander to the mound in an elimination game. This is probably the best pitching duo in the Majors.

So you heard my decision, how about you? Who would you take? Scherzer or Verlander?