The Detroit Tigers were sellers at the trade deadline, parting ways with veterans Jack Flaherty , Andrew Chafin and Mark Canha . After Aug. 10, the Tigers were buried eight games under .500 and 10 games back in the wild-card race, with a 0.2% chance to make the playoffs.
Less than 50 days later, the Tigers punched their ticket to the postseason for the first time since 2014.
"We never stopped believing," Riley Greene said.
The Tigers needed one win in three games against the Chicago White Sox to clinch an American League wild-card spot. They didn't waste any time, winning 4-1 in Friday's series opener to advance beyond the regular season, which ends Sunday.
The postseason starts Tuesday.
"We feel really good about how we're doing it, not just what we're doing," fourth-year manager A.J. Hinch said before Friday's game. "We put a lot of work in to play as consistently as we can and bring it every day. The DNA, the personality of this club is very special. We don't think much of it. We really just come to play and win. We've done a lot of that recently, and we hope to do more."
FRIDAY'S CLINCHER: Detroit Tigers clinch AL playoff berth in 4-1 W; White Sox set MLB record with 121st L
The Tigers will open the postseason Tuesday against the Houston Astros at Minute Maid Park or the Baltimore Orioles at Oriole Park at Camden Yards. The opponent and location for the three-game wild-card series will be determined by the seeding of the wild-card teams, which might not be finalized until Sunday evening.
Tarik Skubal , all but guaranteed to win the AL Cy Young Award, is the starter for Game 1 of the wild-card series. The southpaw has a 2.39 ERA with 228 strikeouts in 31 starts.
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"It's why you play the game, to pitch in the postseason and to hopefully win the big one," Skubal said before Thursday's game. "That's the most important thing in this game, and that's the most important thing to me. Awards, you care about them, but I'd like the World Series ring more than anything."
To get to the playoffs, the Tigers stepped on the gas pedal with a 31-11 record in their last 42 games, dating back to Aug. 11. At the same time, the Minnesota Twins posted a 12-25 record in 37 games since Aug. 18 to freefall out of the playoff picture.
The epic failure of the Twins opened the door for the red-hot Tigers to catch up.
Sure enough, the Tigers joined the 1973 New York Mets as the only teams to make the playoffs after being at least eight games under .500 through 115 games.
"This team, it's something else," Greene said, celebrating Friday night in the clubhouse. "This is awesome."
ON THE MOUND: How Tigers' pitching strategy from Scott Harris, A.J. Hinch is resulting in wins
Pitching was the biggest difference between the Tigers and the Twins in their respective end-of-season trends. Since Aug. 11, the Tigers lead MLB with a 2.60 ERA. Since Aug. 18, the Twins rank 25th in MLB with a 4.65 ERA.
What else sparked the Tigers' winning ways? A top-tier pitching staff comprised of openers and bulk relievers despite only two starters in the rotation for more than a month, the return of several position players from injuries , an increase in aggressiveness on the bases and a World Series-winning manager who pushes all the right buttons to set players up for success.
"I've been managing like Game 7 for two months, is what it feels like," Hinch said. "We want to win today's game, and we're going to use the guys that can help us win today's game. You're going to see us play the same brand that we've been playing with that has got us to this point. ... We got to play the nine innings, and we got to play to win. Whatever the game calls for is what we're going to try to do."
As of Friday's game, the Tigers had the youngest roster among the 30 MLB teams, an average age of 26.3. Only two players on the roster — outfielder Matt Vierling and right-handed reliever Kenta Maeda — have postseason experience.
The Tigers snapped a nine-year drought — tied for the longest active streak in MLB with the Los Angeles Angels — by reaching the postseason in 2024, the second year under president of baseball operations Scott Harris .
The Tigers hired Harris on Sept. 19, 2022 , after firing general manager Al Avila .
"We're just going to stay anchored to what we believe in," Harris said after Friday's win. "We're going to keep trying to make the best baseball decisions we can, and then see how the team responds to it. I feel like we've done that since the day I've been here."
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In their most recent postseason experience, the Tigers were swept in three games by the Orioles in the 2014 AL Division Series , despite starts from Max Scherzer, Justin Verlander and David Price.
The franchise has now made the playoffs in 17 of its 125 seasons, winning the World Series in 1935, 1945, 1968 and 1984. Since the 1984 championship, though, the Tigers have advanced to the playoffs in just seven of the last 40 seasons.
Seeding needs to be determined, but the six AL teams are locked in for the postseason: New York Yankees (AL East), Cleveland Guardians (AL Central), Astros (AL West), Orioles (wild card), Tigers (wild card) and Royals (wild card).
Of those teams, the Tigers took the most improbable route to the playoffs.
The magical run continues.
"It means a lot," Skubal said after Friday's celebration. "The youth that we got, trading away guys at the deadline, and then, look at us now. It means a lot to the guys in that clubhouse, and it's speaks a lot about the guys in that clubhouse. Hats off to everyone involved."
Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him @EvanPetzold .
Listen to our weekly Tigers show "Days of Roar" every Monday afternoon on demand at freep.com, Apple , Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts. And catch all of our podcasts and daily voice briefing at freep.com/podcasts .
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Tigers clinch first postseason appearance since 2014
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