10/18/2006 1:52 PM ET Wilson: Tigers will be rested and ready MLBPLAYERS.com

Magglio Ordonez and Vance Wilson celebrate the Tigers' Game 4 ALCS win. (Michael Conroy/AP)

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The best part of having a full week off is that everyone on the club has a chance to rest and recuperate physically. We'll be able to count on the pitching staff being lined up and ready to go when we begin the World Series on Saturday.

No club or player reaches this point in the season completely healthy, but we have the opportunity to get a few key players back on the field where they belong, which will give us a big boost. Joel Zumaya's been dinged up, Sean Casey's been dinged up and Carlos Guillen's been dinged up. They're getting a chance to get some rest and get their feet back underneath them.

If we can get Sean Casey back in the lineup, there's the added benefit of getting Carlos Guillen back over to shortstop. Casey's been a great addition to our lineup. He's a left-handed hitter who doesn't strike out. He can hit third or sixth, almost anywhere in the lineup.

Because he's a gap-to-gap hitter who doesn't strike out very often, Casey is the kind of hitter who can sustain a rally. With all-or-nothing hitters, you're typically going to get a bunch of runs or get shut out. Casey gives us the kind of at-bats that keep innings alive.

Plus, with Casey back in the lineup, Guillen moves back to his natural position -- shortstop. Guillen's our field leader -- our general -- when he's out on the field. When you're on the biggest stage of your baseball career, you want to have your key guys playing their normal positions.

The only possible downside of the week off is keeping our timing as hitters, but I don't anticipate much of a problem in that area. Jim Leyland will have us ready.

We're having daily workouts. It was rainy on Tuesday, so we went over to Ford Field, where the Lions play, and had an indoor workout. We threw and worked on some bunt coverage plays. Really, we're just trying to keep everything as normal and routine as possible.

Our pitchers may throw to some of our hitters, which they usually don't do. But other than that, the plan is to keep us on the same routine that we use before games. Once we figure out who we're playing, we'll incorporate some video preparation.

It's surreal to think that we're going to the World Series, but on some level you're anxious to know who you're opponent is going to be to complete the picture. Right now, we're the only ones going to the dance.

I watched Game 6 between the Cardinals and the Mets on television. I would watch a game like that no matter what because I'm a fan of the game. But, obviously, since one of those teams is going to be our opponent, I viewed the game a little differently.

I'm watching closely how both sides pitch to hitters -- understanding which hitters are hot, how they're being pitched, how they're approaching their at-bats, pitch sequences, patterns, tendencies -- things like that. I'm trying to make mental notes of anything that might be useful once the World Series begins.

In his sixth season, Vance Wilson is considered one of the game's top defensive catchers and excels at handling pitchers. In 2006, his second season with the Tigers, he batted .283 with five home runs and 18 RBIs as a backup catcher.

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