Detroit Tigers Wild Card Game 3 Recap: Tigers Offense Leads Them to ALDS

After years of struggling against the Cleveland Guardians, the Detroit Tigers defeated them in the Wild Card Game 3. In the last two seasons, the Tigers are now 15-19 against the Guardians since 2024 (including postseason). While the Guardians managed to surpass the Tigers and take the division, the Tigers will gladly accept the playoff series win. Perhaps this series victory means that they have finally overcome the Guardians' stranglehold on their rivalry.

After struggling to score in the first two games (2-23 RISP, 21 LOB, and 24 Ks), the Tigers broke through in the 7th inning. They scored four runs, extending their lead to 6-1. This offensive explosion followed a 400-foot home run from Dillon Dingler in the 6th inning, his first hit of the postseason. Dingler also tagged Jose Ramirez in the 5th inning. Of course, Javier Baez had another excellent performance. Spencer Torkelson broke a 0-9 hitless streak, and Wenceel Perez, who started the scoring in the 7th, broke an 0-11 postseason start.

"Kerry Carpenter 25" by Scott Hards is licensed under CC BY 4.0.

For the pitching, Jack Flaherty went 4.2 innings, allowing only one run. It wasn't quite Tarik Skubal's performance, but it got the job done. Kyle Finnegan, the Tigers' biggest trade deadline addition, pitched 1.1 innings, improving to three innings of scoreless baseball. Tyler Holton threw a clean inning before Kahnle came in, allowing two runners on. Vest came in and looked like he was going to escape with a 6-1 lead, but dropped the throw from Torkelson, allowing two runs to score. He recovered and threw out Ramirez, who was trying to take second base on the drop. Vest finished the job in the 9th: Three up. Three down. This bullpen may not have the depth of some others, but they have a few arms that can get the job done. The Tigers advance to the ALDS to play the Seattle Mariners (2-4 record in regular season).

Detroit Tigers Wild Card Game 3: All's Well That Ends Well

After the Tigers struggled so mightily to score and failed to capitalize on many opportunities throughout the first game, they finally took advantage of the Guardians' pitching. They still truck out nine times and left eight runners on base. They hit 5-12 with runners in scoring position (.416). The Tigers had their best inning since September 10 against the Yankees, per Cody Stavenhagen. At that time, the Tigers appeared to have found their way, with back-to-back 10-plus run games against the New York Yankees.

The hope now is that this is a sign of things to come for the 2025 Detroit Tigers in this postseason. If they have shaken off the offense's collective slump, anything can happen in October. Many pundits were saying that there is no correlation between how a team finishes the season and how they perform in the postseason. So far, they've been proven right. The Tigers won what was always going to be a dogfight between two similar teams that grind it out to win baseball games.

Detroit Tigers Wild Card Series MVP: Javier Baez

At no point in time would anyone have imagined that the Tigers' most important player would be Javier Baez. While Off the Field & Screen projected that he would be one of the Tigers' X-factors in this series, his five hits and play at shortstop sparked the Tigers to a series win. Baez has received more criticism than any Tigers player in recent memory. If he can help this team continue to advance in the postseason, not only will all be forgotten, but fans will remember him as one of the Tigers' greats. Somewhere, Al Avila is thinking, "Hey! That's what I said!"

The Tigers also received solid performances from Jack Flaherty, Casey Mize, Will Vest, Kyle Finnegan, Tyler Holton, Riley Greene, and Kerry Carpenter. As per usual, this is a team effort. In an organization that trusted its guys and stuck with them at the deadline, despite heavy media criticism, it took the group to get it done in the Wild Card. Perhaps just as important is Dillon Ginler, Spencer Torkelson, and Wenceel Perez ending their slumps. Can these Detroit Tigers continue their postseason run as they head to Seattle? More on that to come. For now, enjoy what the comeback the Gritty Tigs just pulled on the Guardians.

(All stats provided by Baseball Reference)

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