The Detroit Tigers were feeling the heat after the Cleveland Guardians tied the ALWCS on Wednesday, forcing a winner-take-all Game 3. The Tigers had been trying to fend off Cleveland for the last two months but the Guardians proved difficult to shake, winning the division and pushing Detroit to the brink in the postseason.
But the Tigers overcame a historic collapse. After limping into the playoffs with a Wild Card berth, Detroit is now advancing to the ALDS. The Tigers won Thursday’s elimination game 6-3, setting up a date with the Seattle Mariners in the Division Series.
The unlikely outcome is an MLB first. The Tigers are the only team in baseball history to win a playoff series after closing the regular season with five-straight series losses, per OptaSTATS.
Tigers finally vanquish Guardians in ALWCS
The Tigers fell apart after building a 15.5-game lead over the Guardians in July. The team struggled mightily over the second half of the season and watched as Cleveland clinched the AL Central.
Detroit had a particularly awful September, going just 7-17 in the final month of the regular season. In the last 15 games of the 2025 campaign, the Tigers lost two separate series to the Guardians. The team also fell to the Miami Marlins, Atlanta Braves and Boston Red Sox, losing eight-straight games at one point.
When Detroit beat Cleveland on Thursday, it marked the team’s first series win in three weeks. But the Tigers rose to the occasion when it mattered most. The club got a 14-strikeout gem from Tarik Skubal in Game 1. In Game 3, veteran starter Jack Flaherty and four relievers held the Guardians to three runs – just one earned.
Detroit took a 1-0 lead on Kerry Carpenter’s RBI double in the third inning. The team then broke the game open in the seventh, going up 6-1 as Cleveland used three different pitchers in the four-run inning.
Dillon Dingler had a standout day for the Tigers. The second-year catcher made significant offensive and defensive contributions to Detroit’s victory. Dingler hit a solo home run in the sixth inning, giving the Tigers a 2-1 lead. And he threw out Jose Ramirez on a stolen base attempt in the fourth. The caught-stealing halted a potential Guardians rally as Dingler became the first Detroit catcher since 1984 to homer and throw out a base runner in a playoff game.
The Tigers will travel to Seattle to face the Mariners in the ALDS beginning Saturday.
