Still it is the postseason and the Tigers will have Tarik Skubal on the mound in Game 1 looking to prove that he’s learned something from some big game struggles against the Guardians over the last calendar year. One would assume that the Guardians will be going with the very tough Gavin Williams in Game 1 to match up with Skubal.

BOSTON -- Riley Greene, Spencer Torkelson and Gleyber Torres will get rare days off for the Detroit Tigers on Sunday afternoon, a day after the Tigers clinched a playoff berth. The Tigers face the Boston Red Sox at 3:10 p.m. at Fenway Park. Both clubs have clinched playoff spots, but seeding remains up in the air.

While the Astros fly to Anaheim to face an Angels team with the third-worst record in baseball since the break, the Tigers travel to Boston to face a Red Sox team still trying to cement a spot in the postseason. The Guardians, meanwhile, host a Rangers team that’s already been eliminated.

"He just has that it factor, that clutch factor — the bigger the moment, the better," catcher Austin Hedges said of Playoff Rocchio. "So much confidence anytime Rocchio's up, so much confidence that he's going to get the job done. He might've bunted, he might've got a hit or he might hit an absolute nuke to walk it off."

The slumping Detroit Tigers have clinched a wildcard spot and will travel to Cleveland to face the Guardians inside Progressive Field in the first round of the Major League Baseball playoffs.

The Cleveland Guardians will be remembered for a historic surge, but by making the field, the Tigers may have avoided being remembered for a historic collapse.

The Tigers staggered into the 2025 postseason, victims of a late-season swoon that reads like a tragic ballad of the diamond.