After six long months of competition, the Major League Baseball season reaches its climax. The playoffs get underway on Tuesday with the Wild Card games in both circuits, in which eight teams will be playing to advance to the Divisional Series, where Milwaukee, Philadelphia, Toronto and Seattle are already waiting.
One of the most exciting wild card games will be between the Guardians and the Tigers, direct rivals in the American League Central. Cleveland, which earned the right to play at home, goes into the game on a high after winning the division pennant by erasing a 15-game deficit, precisely against Detroit.
Honours
- Cleveland Guardians: Two World Series, six American League titles. They have not won a championship since 1948, the longest drought in baseball in the United States.
- Detroit Tigers: 4 World Series, 11 American League titles. Their last championship was in 1984, 42 years ago.
Head-to-head
- Historic matchup: 1163 wins for Cleveland, 1164 wins for Detroit and 12 ties in regular season.
- Matchup in 2025: Cleveland won the series 8-5
- Postseason clashes: They have only met once in the playoffs (2024 Division Series) and the Guardians won 3-2.
- Home advantage: Cleveland has a 633-534 home record against Detroit. However, of the five games the Tigers won against the Guardians in 2025, four were at Cleveland’s Progressive Field.
The stars
Jose Ramirez (Guardians): A true All-Star. His season deserves top marks: 103 runs scored, 67 extra-base hits, 30 home runs, 44 stolen bases, 85 RBI and an .863 OPS, the highest among all qualified third basemen in Major League Baseball in 2025. Against Detroit he was a hitting machine, as shown by his offensive line (Average/On-base percentage/Slugging/OPS) of .347/.439/.592/1.030.
Tarik Skubal (Tigers): Another Cy Young season for the left-hander born in Hayward, California. He led the American League in ERA (2.21), WHIP (0.891), FIP (2.45) and also had the best strikeout-to-walk ratio (7.3) in the Majors. Against the Guardians he was relentless, as in four starts he threw 28 innings in which he was only scored a pair of earned runs (0.64 ERA). He also struck out 40 batters. However, he was only able to win one of those outings.
The keys
In September, the Guardians were the best team in Major League Baseball with 20 wins in 27 games. The Tigers, on the other hand, had a poor record of seven wins and 17 losses in 24 games, ahead of only the Rockies (4-21). The mood of both teams is totally different and that can be decisive in such a short series.
In Cleveland’s favor, they have a pair of starters who were impressive against Detroit this year. On the one hand, Gavin Williams got a couple of wins with an ERA of 1.06 against the Tigers, while Tanner Bibee got three wins and his ERA was 0.96. They will be the starters for the first two games.
Prediction
Guardians win 2-1.
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