The Detroit Tigers are breathing easy — at least for the time being — as they have advanced out of the Wild Card round of the American League playoffs and are moving on to the Division Series. The Tigers defeated the Cleveland Guardians 6-3 in the decisive game of the three-game series, and will face the American League West champion Seattle Mariners.
The Tigers were one of the best teams in baseball through the majority of the regular season. However, they went through a horrific slump in September. At one point in the season, they had a 15 1/2-game lead over the Cleveland Guardians in the American League Central Division. However, the Guardians ate into the lead on seemingly an every-day basis, and Cleveland ultimately passed Detroit and won the division title. The Tigers finished as the No. 6 seed in the American League playoff structure.
As poorly as the Tigers played down the stretch, they were able to win 2 of 3 in Cleveland in the Wild Card round. Manager AJ Hinch was fired up after his team came through in the final game, and he appears to be quite confident that the Tigers will have a good chance to advance in the divisional series.
“Congratulations to all of you,” Hinch said. “This should feel really good, not only because of what we've done, but where we're doing it. They test us, they test us and they test us. We keep answering it. We have 89 wins and I know what 11 more will bring us. Our first win of the year was in Seattle. Let's go back and get 'em.”
Tigers hoping that Tarik Skubal can lead the way
The Tigers are not a team of superstars, with the exception of starting pitcher Tarik Skubal. He has an excellent chance to win the Cy Young Award for the second consecutive season.
Skubal finished the regular season with a 13-6 record and had an American League best 2.21 earned run average. He started 31 games and struck out 241 batters in 195.1 innings. Skubal was victorious in Game 1 of the Wild Card series in Detroit's 2-1 victory as he struck out 14 batters in 7.2 innings.
While the Tigers don't have superstars in their lineup, they were able to hit the ball out of the ballpark with some consistency. Riley Greene led the team with 36 home runs and he also drove in 111 runs. Spencer Torkelson blasted 31 home runs and drove in 78 runs while Kerry Carpenter had 26 home runs and 62 RBI.
