They now know who they are playing. And by Thursday night, the Seattle Mariners will know when they are playing on Saturday at T-Mobile Park to open the American League Division Series.
With their 6-3 victory over Cleveland on Thursday afternoon, the Detroit Tigers, who spent the first half of the season with the best record in the American League, will travel to Seattle to face the Mariners in the five-game series.
The Tigers broke open a 2-1 game in the top of the seventh, scoring four runs against Cleveland’s bullpen. Weneail Perez’s bases-loaded single off Hunter Gaddis with one out scored a pair of runs. Spencer Torkelson and Riley Greene followed with RBI singles to push the lead to 6-1.
Cleveland rallied for two runs in the eighth, but Tigers’ closer Will Vest, a one-time Mariner reliever, worked a 1-2-3 ninth to clinch the three-game wild card series.
The Mariners went 4-2 against the Tigers during the season with both series coming in the first half of the season.
Detroit came to T-Mobile on March 31 for the second series of the season. The Tigers won the first two games of the series, but Seattle avoided being swept by beating Tarik Skubal, the reigning AL Cy Young Award winner, in the series finale.
The Mariners won the overall season series by rolling into Comerica Park and sweeping the Tigers in the final series before the All-Star break.
Detroit started the series with a 59-35 record — the best in the AL. Seattle won the opener, 12-3, highlighted by Julio Rodriguez’s two run homer off Skubal.
Rodriguez would go on to homer in every game of the series sweep.
Detroit’s second-half slide actually started with that series. The Tigers closed out the season with a 28-40 record. The blew a 15.5-game lead in the AL Central and barely got into the postseason, needing to win on the penultimate day of the regular season to secure the third wild cards spot.
Since their series with the Guardians went three games, the Tigers will likely have to look to either Keider Montero to start Saturday’s series opener vs. the Mariners. Manager A.J. Hinch could also have a modified bullpen start, something he did effectively last year during the postseason.
Montero, 24, is in his second MLB season. He made 12 starts and eight relief appearances this season, posting a combined 5-3 record with a 4.35 ERA.
Skubal, who looked absolutely dominant in the opening game of the wild card series, striking out 14 batters, will likely start Game 2 of the ALDS. He would then likely return to pitch Game 5 if necessary. The Tigers would have right-handers Casey Mize and Jack Flaherty for Games 3 and 4.