The Detroit Tigers are playing meaningful baseball in October this fall for the first time in 10 years and the fanbase could not be more excited about the next step in the Motor City Kitties’ magical season.
The first stop on the way to the World Series (fingers crossed) is in Houston, where the Astros will welcome their former manager’s club at Minute Maid Park for a best-of-three American League Wild Card series. As the higher seed, the ‘Stros will host all three matchups in consecutive days starting on Tuesday.
Houston took the season series, 4-2, winning two of three in Detroit back in May before doing the same once again at home in June. However, this is a very different Tigers ballclub than what was seen back before the all-star break, so those season series mean very little a few months later.
At the time of publication (Monday), only one pitching matchup has been announced for either team ahead of the big series. We will update the information below as it becomes available.
Detroit Tigers (86-76) vs Houston Astros (88-73)
SB Nation Site: The Crawfish Boxes
Game 1
When (ET): Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2:32 p.m. ET
Were: Minute Maid Park, Houston, Texas
Watch: ABC, Tigers Radio Network
Pitchers:
Tigers: LHP Tarik Skubal (18-4, 2.39 ERA)
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Baseball Savant
Astros: LHP Framber Valdez (15-7, 2.91 ERA)
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Baseball Savant
Game 2
When (ET): Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2:32 p.m. ET
Where: Minute Maid Park, Houston, Texas
Watch: ABC, Tigers Radio Network
Pitchers: TBD
Game 3 (if necessary)
When (ET): Thursday, Oct. 3, 2:32 p.m. ET
Where: Minute Maid Park, Houston, Texas
Watch: ABC, Tigers Radio Network
Pitchers: TBD
Series Outlook: Get back on the winning track
Sure, the Tigers lost their last two games of the season to the lowly White Sox after clinching a playoff berth, but at least in Sunday’s game, it appeared that Hinch was already planning for the postseason. It was a bit of a letdown, but the squad needed a breather and hopefully, that is enough to recapture the mojo.
On offense, the Astros finished the season ranked eighth in OPS (.740) and 11th in runs scored (740) while the Tigers were ranked 23rd (.685) and 19th (.682), respectively. On the pitching side, Houston is sixth in ERA (3.74), 14th in WHIP (1.24) and fourth in batting average against (.231) against Detroit, which ranked fourth (3.61), second (1.16) and fifth (.233), respectively.
Suffice it to say, the Tigers must win Game 1 on Tuesday with triple-crown winner Tarik Skubal on the mound.