Major League Baseball: Well-rested Tigers face the well-tested Giants

Leyland and Giants manager Bruce Bochy both hoped to be a quick study. There's not a lot of history between these longtime franchises — they've never met in the postseason, and have played only 12 times since interleague action began in 1997.

"I don't really know the Giants that well. I'm kind of getting a crash course on them," Leyland said.

"But to be honest, when they were down 0-2 going into Cincinnati having to win three games, for me that was unbelievable. So nothing surprised me when they got to the championship series after I saw what they did in the divisional series," he said.

Likewise for Bochy.

"I'll have to learn a lot about them real soon, to be honest," he said Monday night.

"I know what a great club they are. And we know all about the guy we're going to be facing opening day and their whole staff," he said. "They swept the Yankees. That tells you how good they are."

World Series

All games televised by Fox

Wednesday, Oct. 24: Detroit (Verlander 17-8) at San Francisco (Zito 15-8), 6:07 p.m.

Thursday, Oct. 25: Detroit (Fister 10-10) at San Francisco, 6:07 p.m.

Saturday, Oct. 27: San Francisco at Detroit (Sanchez 4-6), 6:07 p.m.

Sunday, Oct. 28: San Francisco at Detroit (Scherzer 16-7), 6:15 p.m.

x-Monday, Oct. 29: San Francisco at Detroit, 6:07 p.m.

x-Wednesday, Oct. 31: Detroit at San Francisco, 6:07 p.m.

x-Thursday, Nov. 1: Detroit at San Francisco, 6:07 p.m.

x-if necessary (Best-of-7)