Guardians and Tigers are ready to take the Ohio-Michigan rivalry to the next level

How we got here

Within two months, the Guardians and Tigers found themselves at opposite ends of the trade deadline and were each just three wins away from advancing to the AL Championship Series.

Cleveland had just won a short two-game series at Comerica Park and had a 6 1/2 game lead in the AL Central Division as of July 30. The Tigers sent their second-best pitcher, Jack Flaherty, to the Dodgers that day. The MLB trade deadline signaled to many outside their clubhouse that they have everything packed and will focus on next season.

But something magical that can only happen over the course of a 162-game baseball schedule happened in Detroit. The Tigers went on a tear, going 17-11 in August and 17-8 in September to clinch the final wild-card spot in the AL. After holding first place in the division since April 14, Cleveland survived a setback in late August and finished strong, claiming the 12th Central Division title in franchise history and securing a bye to the division series .

When the Tigers stormed past Houston in the wild-card round earlier this week, it marked a historic meeting between two clubs that have faced each other for 123 years but have never met in the postseason.

About the Guardians

Experts never could have predicted that the Guardians would get off to a hot start in April and clinch a postseason berth with their unheralded bullpen under rookie manager Stephen Vogt. The team, which started 51-26 through June 25, now heads to the playoffs with Emmanuel Clase, this season’s AL leader (47).

Six-time All-Star third baseman Jose Ramirez put together one of his best seasons, missing a home run and a double to become Cleveland’s first player with 40 home runs, 40 doubles and 40 steals in a season. He led the club with 118 runs batted in.

First baseman Josh Naylor set career highs with 31 home runs and 108 RBI while earning his first All-Star nomination, and Tanner Bibee took over as the club’s top starting pitcher, winning 12 games after star Shane Bieber missed the season with an elbow Injury early on.

But the story of the Guardians’ season was their bullpen, a relief unit that led the majors in earned-run average and a number of other statistical categories while holding opponents scoreless for at least three innings on a major league-best 60 opportunities.

About the tigers

Detroit, on the other hand, has perhaps the best starting player in the world in left guard Tarik Skubal (18-5 record) and ended the regular season with undeniable momentum behind a courageous young lineup.

Key players returned from injury, including Kerry Carpenter, who posted a .286 batting average with ten home runs since rejoining the club in mid-August. Parker Meadows and Riley Greene also returned to bolster Detroit’s offense. The additions of Spencer Torkelson at first base along with Brenan Hanifee and Sean Guenther in the bullpen have allowed AJ Hinch to keep October by the wayside instead of making it to 2025.

Hinch has used a mix of bullpen games – in which relievers take one or two innings each for an entire game, rather than relying on a starter to log the majority of the innings – to obscure and keep opponents guessing while relying on Skubal every time on Day Five to go out and dominate the opposition. Hinch also often used the “opener” strategy, in which a bullpen pitcher starts a game and faces around six or seven batters before turning things over to a bulk reliever, often a less experienced starter, who faces around three or more innings throws.

The strategies have paid off and Detroit has delivered a master class in how to effectively utilize a young bullpen, as evidenced by two exciting wins over Houston.

It’s safe to say that no one in baseball expected anything like this for either team. But here we are.

The story

No major league club has played Cleveland more times than the Tigers. But Saturday’s opening game marks the first-ever playoff meeting between the two teams. In fact, it will be the first time in 17 postseason appearances that Cleveland will face a division opponent.

Cleveland and Detroit have both been founding members of the American League since 1901. The clubs faced each other 2,326 times in the regular season, with Cleveland winning 1,155 and the Tigers 1,159. That year, the Guardians won the season series by the narrowest of margins, 7-6, with eight of the contests decided by three runs or less.

A return to the playoffs

Cleveland returns to the playoffs for the third time in the last five seasons and the sixth time since winning a division title at Comerica Park in September 2016. This is Detroit’s first playoff run since 2014 after reaching the postseason four straight times starting in 2011 had achieved.

Regional rivals

The Guardians and Tigers meeting in the playoffs should ignite the regional passions of fans on and off the diamond. Cleveland and Detroit are familiar opponents when you include their NBA and NFL franchises.

The Cavaliers faced the Pistons four times in the NBA playoffs and went 3-1 in those meetings. Cleveland lost the 2006 Eastern Conference semifinals to Detroit, but stormed back behind a historic Game 5 performance from LeBron James to win the 2007 East final. The Cavs won the first round games between the two teams in 2009 and 2016.

On the other hand, the Lions have played the Browns head-to-head with a record of 16-5 in 21 regular season meetings. Before the NFL/AFL merger, the Browns faced Detroit in the NFL Championship Game four times in six seasons from 1952 to 1957, losing three times. Cleveland’s only win during that time was a 56-10 loss in 1954 at Municipal Stadium.

Of course, in college, Michigan has the edge in the Ohio State-Michigan football rivalry with a record of 61-51-6. Despite three straight losses, Ohio State has dominated the game since 2000 with an unofficial record of 17-5.

Both sides of the fight

While the Tigers and Guardians have each had their fair share of Hall of Fame players over the years, it is interesting to note those who have played for both sides of the rivalry.

Current Guardians starting pitcher Matthew Boyd spent parts of eight seasons in Detroit before signing as a free agent in Cleveland midway through this season. Boyd said after missing the playoffs for so many seasons with the Tigers, he’s glad his former club is in the position he’s in. But the left-hander knows all too well the passion in the Ohio-Michigan rivalry and how a playoff series can raise the stakes.

“It’s always huge when we get that divisional rivalry,” Boyd said. “We run into people so often within the division, also the proximity between Ohio and Michigan and so on. It’s a fun rivalry. I’m looking forward to this series and it’s going to be a lot of fun.”

Boyd isn’t the only player to appear for both teams in the rivalry. Hall of Famers Hal Newhouser, Larry Doby and Earl Averill played parts of their careers in both Cleveland and Detroit.

Doby was traded from Detroit to Cleveland in 1959 in exchange for Tito Francona, whose son Terry would later become Cleveland’s all-time winningest manager.

Perhaps the most notable player from both teams was Rocky Colavito, who played in Cleveland for eight seasons before moving to Detroit in 1960, where he stayed for four years, including two All-Star campaigns.

More recently, players such as Rajai Davis, Andrew Miller, Victor Martinez, Juan Gonzalez, John McDonald, Travis Fryman and Sean Casey have qualified for both sides of the rivalry.

Quotable Vogt

Stephen Vogt was asked by reporters on Thursday for a historical perspective on Cleveland and Detroit’s final postseason meeting. Vogt said it’s really fun to think about the series in that light.

“It’s the little things about baseball that are so beautiful,” Vogt said. “How you can play in the same league for a hundred years, never meet again in the postseason, and then finally make it. And in a year in which we played very evenly against each other, it will be a lot of fun. I just love the game and I love the story of the game, so it’s going to be a fun weekend.”