Clean Slate for Tigers Going Into Wild Card Series Against Guardians
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The struggles of the Detroit Tigers are not confidential. The team lost the AL Central in a historic fashion to the Cleveland Guardians and now have to face them in the first round of the playoffs. However, the regular season is over and everybody's record is now 0-0.
The Guardians might have all of the momentum in the world going for them, but there was a point when the Tigers were arguably the best team in baseball. They can still be that team this postseason no matter how brutal of a stretch the team had.
It is really easy to dwell on the fact that the Tigers lost the division, lost home-field advantage, only won seven games in September, and went on an eight-game losing streak, which only recently ended. It is incredibly difficult to move past all of that and rise to the challenge that the team now faces.
The Highs of this Season
The Tigers got out of the gate extremely hot. They were the first team in baseball to hit 30 wins, then 40, then 50, and then 60. Detroit was led by their ace Tarik Skubal on the mound and outfielder Riley Greene swinging a bat.
Skubal is set to come out of the dugout for the opener in this series against the Guardians and he should be able to get the ball rolling. He will more than likely be a Cy Young Award finalist with a 2.21 ERA and the second-most strikeouts in baseball with 241.
Their outfielder was one of the best that baseball had to offer at his position. He posted 111 RBI to go with his 36 home runs on the year, which not only led the Tigers but led everybody in MLB. The 25-year-old posted his second season with an OPS over .800 (back-to-back years).
Tarik Skubal in 4 games against the Guardians this season:
— SleeperMLB (@SleeperMLB) September 29, 2025
28 Innings Pitched
0.64 ERA
40 Strikeouts
Good luck Cleveland. pic.twitter.com/C47EtMQJ10
The Guardians have had the Tigers' number as of recently, but luckily for Detroit they are over .500 when playing outside of Comercia Park which will be a difference maker in the playoffs as it always does. The Tigers only win recently against the Guardians was in Cleveland and also their last matchup.
The regular season is over. Nothing that the team did in the last stretch matters except for them fighting into the postseason. All eyes are on the World Series now and the Tigers need to take it one game at a time. That starts in Cleveland as the playoffs are finally here.
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Maddy Dickens resides in Loveland, Colorado. She grew up with two older brothers, where their lives revolved around sports. She earned a master's degree in business management from Tarleton State University while simultaneously playing basketball and competing in rodeo at the collegiate level. She successfully parlayed a reserve national championship into a professional rodeo career and now stays involved in upper-level athletics by writing for On SI on several different MLB teams' pages, along with some NCAA sites.