No one likes to quit the playoffs quickly, but an October cameo was especially humiliating for the 2025 Detroit Tigers. After fighting for the league’s best record for most of the season and gaining a 14-game division lead at one point, the Tigers scored nine games in the second half with a .500 record. Not only was Detroit so bad, it also lost the division title and almost completely missed the playoffs, which was squeezed simply by a tiebreak advantage over the Houston Astros. So it must be comforting to win a 6-3 victory in Game 3 of the Wildcard Series on Thursday, especially given the revenge measure brought by defeating Cleveland.
Jack Flaherty received a call in Game 3, his first time playing for the Tigers’ playoffs. Given that his last quality began to return in mid-August, it was necessary to be scared of Flaherty. While his 4 2/3 innings work was short at the highlights, he allowed three 100 mph liners, luckily Flaherty limited the batting to two eliminations, leaving little room for any colored flag or other small balls to the Blite Ball Ball Ball Shenanigans until the fourth inning. George Valera’s doubles and José Ramírez’s singles got guardians in the fourth round, but the danger ended when J-ram was snatched and chased DeLauter to hit the doubles. Flaherty at least avoids irritating the cruel gods who control the predictions. Last offseason, he famously said If the Tigers weren’t traded to the deadline in last year’s playoffs, it would beat the Guardians in last year’s playoffs.
With Tarik Skubal entering eighth on Tuesday, manager AJ Hinch quickly used his bullpen, starting with Game 2 Casey Mize, now after 74 goals in Game 3, although I wasn’t surprised. That Flaherty was fired in fifth place, and I was surprised by the guy he replaced him, Kyle Finnegan came in and faced all the lefties instead of Tyler Holton (although the latter did come to the bottom of the seventh place later).
Slade Cecconi’s outing was short and despite his almost no disaster, Cleveland Meadows led to Cleveland manager Stephen Vogt calling the pen in advance in the third consecutive singles with Gleyber Torres and Parker Meadows. Tim Herrin against left-handed Kerry Carpenter, who Cecconi tried to wield him in the first inning and eventually left him. Herrin did allow the carpenter to score in RBI doubles, but he retired Wencel Pérez and Spencer Torkelson to limit the damage of a run.
The 1-1 game stayed until Dillon Dingler’s sixth inning home run, born in Cleveland just an hour’s drive and for this Ohio.
Seventh place is from Cleveland Annus Horribilis. (I’m not sure what the Latin word for “Job” might be.) Javier Báez starts with a double in Detroit. Meadows put him third with Erik Sabrowski’s race not fast enough.
Gleyber Torres took root, Meadows was promoted to second, and Hunter Gaddis deliberately stepped onto the carpenters to build the troop race. With three singles driving runners, Cleveland reached half of seventh place facing a tough 6-1 deficit.
Cleveland’s last best chance to make up for the current five deficits is eighth. Brayan Rocchio was eliminated in singles and Steven Kwan’s doubles brought him to third place. Ramírez scored 3-1, but would be at Torkelson instead of grabbing it, which scored both runners. While everyone remembers the era of greed being good on the base, few people remember the era of running being severely punished. Ramírez provides an example of the latter, as the redemption of the vest was thrown to him. This is J-Ram’s second place on this key game.
The vest was ninth in the game and after three games, Cleveland’s season was over.
The Guardian ending may not feel good, but it’s an impressive feat for a team that hasn’t permanently surpassed .500 until September. Just a month ago, the Guardians’ Farge’s playoff probability was 2.5%, or one in 40, just to enter the playoffs.
By winning the ALDS, the Tigers effectively “reset” the second half of the season and can get back there just after a struggle in the late season. While the Mariners will be favored, the teams that launched Skubal twice in five games can be fairly called long shots.
