The Detroit Tigers' epic run into the AL playoffs is unique

The Detroit Tigers were sellers at the trade deadline, parting ways with veterans Jack Flaherty, Andrew Chafin and Mark Canha. After August 10, the Tigers were eight games under .500 and ten games back in the wild card race, with a 0.2% chance of making the playoffs.

Less than 50 days later, the Tigers punched their ticket to the postseason for the first time since 2014.

“We never stopped believing,” Riley Greene said.

The Tigers needed a three-game win against the Chicago White Sox to clinch a wild-card spot in the American League. They wasted no time winning the series opener 4-1 on Friday to advance through the regular season, which ends Sunday.

The postseason begins on Tuesday.

“We feel really good about the way we do it, not just what we do,” fourth-year coach AJ Hinch said before Friday’s game. “We have put a lot of work into playing as consistently as possible and showing it every day. The DNA, the personality of this club is something very special. We don’t think about it much. We really just came to play and win.” . We’ve been doing a lot of this lately and hope to do more.

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The Tigers will open the postseason on Tuesday against the Houston Astros at Minute Maid Park or the Baltimore Orioles at Oriole Park at Camden Yards. The opponent and venue of the three-game wild card series will be determined by the seeding of the wild card teams, which may not be determined until Sunday evening.

Tarik Skubal, who is all but guaranteed to win the AL Cy Young Award, is the starter for Game 1 of the Wild Card Series. The southpaw has a 2.39 ERA with 228 strikeouts in 31 starts.

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“That’s why you play the game, to pitch in the postseason and hopefully win the big game,” Skubal said before Thursday’s game. “That’s the most important thing in this game, and that’s the most important thing for me. Awards are important to you, but I want the World Series ring more than anything.”

To make the playoffs, the Tigers stepped on the accelerator with a record of 31-11 in their last 42 games dating back to August 11th. At the same time, the Minnesota Twins posted a 12-25 record in 37 games since August 18 to be eliminated from the playoff picture.

The Twins’ epic failure opened the door for the red-hot Tigers to catch up.

In fact, the Tigers joined the New York Mets in 1973 and became the only teams to make the playoffs after finishing at least eight games under .500 in 115 games.

“This team is something different,” Greene said as he celebrated in the clubhouse Friday night. “That’s great.”

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Pitching was the biggest difference between the Tigers and Twins in their respective end-of-season trends. As of August 11, the Tigers lead the MLB with a 2.60 ERA. As of August 18, the Twins rank 25th in the MLB with a 4.65 ERA.

What else helped the Tigers win? A star-studded pitching staff consisting of openers and bulk relievers despite having only two starters in the rotation for more than a month, the return of several position players from injuries, an increase in aggressiveness on the bases and a manager who won the World Series has and pushes all the right buttons to prepare players for success.

“I’ve been making it like Game 7 for two months, that’s what it feels like,” Hinch said. “We want to win today’s game and we will use the guys who can help us win today’s game. “You’re going to see us play with the same brand that we played with that got us to this point.” … We have to play the nine innings and we have to try to win whatever the game requires.

Entering Friday’s game, the Tigers had the youngest roster among the 30 MLB teams, with an average age of 26.3 years old. Only two players on the roster – outfielder Matt Vierling and right-hander Kenta Maeda – have postseason experience.

The Tigers broke a nine-year losing streak – tied with the Los Angeles Angels for the longest active streak in MLB – to reach the postseason in 2024, the second year under president of baseball operations Scott Harris.

The Tigers hired Harris on September 19, 2022 after firing general manager Al Avila.

“We’re just staying anchored to what we believe in,” Harris said after Friday’s win. “We will continue to try to make the best baseball decisions possible and then see how the team responds. I feel like we’ve been doing that since the day I got here.”

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In their most recent postseason experience, the Tigers fell to the Orioles in three games in the 2014 AL Division Series despite starting Max Scherzer, Justin Verlander and David Price.

The franchise has now reached the playoffs in 17 of its 125 seasons and won the World Series in 1935, 1945, 1968 and 1984. However, since the 1984 championship, the Tigers have made the playoffs in just seven of the last 40 seasons.

The seedings have yet to be determined, but the six AL teams are locked into the postseason: New York Yankees (AL East), Cleveland Guardians (AL Central), Astros (AL West), Orioles (Wild Card), Tigers (Wild Card ) and Royals (Wildcard).

The Detroit Tigers’ epic run into the AL playoffs is unique

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