The expressions “winner take it all” or “win or go home” become very popular in baseball in the United States when October arrives and the Major League Baseball postseason begins. Both refer to those all-or-nothing games in which the teams involved, after exchanging blows, must decide their fate in a single game.
These sudden-death episodes have appeared early in the 2025 playoffs, as three of the four wild-card series will be decided in the maximum possible after a split of honors in the first duels.
The first to go through this life-or-death chapter will be the Guardians and Tigers. Detroit won the opener on Tuesday with an outstanding performance from Tarik Skubal, but Cleveland responded on Wednesday with a great collective effort from its bullpen, which allowed just two hits and no runs in 5.1 innings of work.
It is time to define this head-to-head, in which the ticket to one of the American League Division Series is at stake, where Seattle is already waiting.
Cleveland, a horror story with a happy ending
In these famous “winner take it all” games, Cleveland has had very bad luck throughout its history. In total, they have played ten games of this kind and have lost eight, including very painful defeats in the seventh games of the 1997 and 2016 World Series.
The Guardians (formerly Indians) went on a streak of eight consecutive losses in do-or-die clashes between 1997 and 2022:
- Game 7-1997 World Series vs. Marlins (2-3 in 11 innings)
- 1999 ALDS Game 5 vs. Boston (8-12)
- 2001 ALDS Game 5 vs. Seattle (1-3)
- Game 7 – 2007 Championship Series vs. Boston (2-11)
- 2013 Wild Card Game vs. Tampa (0-4)
- Game 7-2016 World Series vs. Cubs (7-8 in 10 innings)
- Game 5-2017 ALDS vs. Yankees (2-5)
- 2022 ALDS Game 5 vs. Yankees (1-5)
Cleveland’s only triumphs in winner-take-all games came in Game 5 of the 1997 and 2024 Division Series against the Yankees and Tigers, respectively. That last memory from last year is still fresh, when they beat Detroit 7-3 with a combined effort of eight pitchers who struck out 16 batters!
Detroit: 50-50
The Tigers lost their first three sudden-death postseason games more than 80 years ago. The Pirates, Cardinals and Reds were their executioners in the seventh games of the 1909, 1934 and 1940 World Series, respectively. This curse was cut short in 1945, when they dethroned the Cubs in the decisive clash of the Fall Classic, and then, in 1968, they got revenge against the Cardinals.
In 1972, Detroit again lost a decisive American League Championship Series clash. Then it was the Athletics who got in their way to continue their route straight to the World Series title against Cincinnati’s Big Red Machine.
In this century, the Tigers have played four sudden-death matches and won three:
- 2011 ALDS Game 5 vs. Yankees (3-2)
- 2012 ALDS Game 5 vs. Oakland (6-0)
- Game 5-2013 ALDS vs. Oakland (3-0)
Their only defeat in recent years in these do-or-die clashes came last year against Cleveland. Will there be revenge now at Progressive Field?
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