Detroit Tigers 1 win on the road from 1st place in the MLB playoffs since 2014

Free Press staff reports
| Detroit Free Press

And then finally, after 13 innings in Minneapolis, the Detroit Tigers' magic number was… one.

The Minnesota Twins lost 8-6 in extra games at home to the Miami Marlins on Thursday night and are a full three games behind the Tigers and Kansas City Royals in the American League wild card playoff race. (The Tigers and Royals, who both won on Thursday, are tied for the second and third wild-card spots, with the Royals holding the direct tiebreaker.)

Minnesota's loss on Thursday means the Tigers can clinch their first postseason berth since the 2014 season with a win against the Chicago White Sox in Detroit as early as Friday night – and end MLB's longest active playoff drought. The game at Comerica Park is scheduled to begin at 6:40 p.m. (Bally Sports Detroit). The Tigers have a total of three games against the White Sox, with matinees on Saturday (1:10 p.m.) and Sunday (3:10 p.m.) to end the regular season at home. The Tigers are 9-1 against the White Sox this season, with series wins in March (three games) and August (four games).

Even with a loss, the Tigers could clinch a playoff spot with another loss to the Twins, who begin a three-game series against the AL wild-card leader, the Baltimore Orioles, in Minneapolis at 7:40 p.m. The O's lead the Tigers and Royals by three games. Among them, the Twins have the tiebreaker against the Tigers and Royals, meaning they'll be in if they win all three games over the weekend and either the Royals or Tigers lose all three. A three-way tie for the final two wild card spots would send the Twins and Royals into the postseason and send the Tigers home for the fall.

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The White Sox are trying to avoid the worst record in MLB history. Since the White Sox on Sunday passed the 2003 Tigers for the most losses in AL history (119) and tied the 1962 New York Mets for the most losses in modern baseball history (120), they have won three games in a row.

The top Wild Card team will host the No. 2 Wild Card team in a best-of-three series starting Tuesday, while the No. 3 Wild Card team will face the AL West champion, the Houston Astros, in the other best- of Three series, also from Tuesday. The Orioles have the direct tiebreaker over the Royals, but the Tigers have the tiebreaker over the O's. In the event of a three-way tie for the first wild card spot, the Tigers would prevail, with the best record against the other two teams combined.

The winners of each series will face the AL East champion New York Yankees (currently the league's top seed) and the AL Central champion Cleveland Guardians (one game behind) in the best-of-five AL Division Series starting October 5 the Yanks). .

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A playoff berth, regardless of seeding, would cap a stunning turnaround that saw the Tigers go 10 games out of a playoff spot midway through the season and move from eight games under .500 (55-63). on Aug. 11. In the 46 days since, the Tigers have gone 30-11, the best record in baseball during that span, surpassing the Twins.

Minnesota fell behind Miami, the National League's worst team, early Thursday night, giving up Jake Burger to a one-out double scored by Xavier Edwards in the first inning. The Marlins added three more runs in the fifth inning, with Burger scoring another RBI, but gave up a two-run lead in the bottom of the eighth inning after a dropped foul ball with one out gave the Twins new life. The batter, Royce Lewis, walked, advanced to third on a single by Carlos Santana and scored along with Santana on a double by rookie Brooks Lee off the right field wall at Target Field.

The Marlins got a jump start in the top 10^Th In the inning, Jesús Sánchez moved free runner Griffin Conine (who had started as a pinch-runner) to third with a single, followed by Conine scoring on a sac fly by Jonah Bride. In the bottom of the inning, the Twins scored Lewis, who opened the frame as a free runner on second, with a sac fly – which was intercepted by former Tiger Derek Hill with an acrobatic move – after Miami reliever Michael Peterson started the inning had opened with a bake-off. Go to the back to load the bases.

Neither team was able to score in the 11th or 12th inning, although the Twins opened with a single out in the bottom of the 11th inning and two more with no outs in the bottom of the 12th inning.

In the 13th, Otto Lopez threw a hanging break ball from Scott Blewett to left for a one-out double and the go-ahead run. After a few walks, Conine lifted a single just over second base to give the Marlins some breathing room. Miami was finally able to defend the victory.

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