The Detroit Tigers and Cleveland Guardians have played each other more than 2,300 times but never have they clashed in a series this important.
The Tigers and Guardians begin play in the American League Division Series on Saturday in Cleveland, and the winner of the best-of-five series will advance to the AL Championship Series.
Cleveland went 7-6 against the Tigers in the regular-season series but the last meeting was July 30, after Detroit parted with some veterans at the trading deadline.
Those moves sparked the club and Detroit won 31 of 42 games at one point en route to overtaking the collapsing Minnesota Twins for the sixth and final AL playoff berth. Then the Tigers upset the Houston Astros in a two-game wild-card sweep earlier this week.
“We know the Tigers have been hot for a long time now,” Cleveland catcher Austin Hedges said Friday. “It’s not just a playoff win. They’ve been the best team in baseball for a long time. And you know they’ve played us tough all year. So we have our hands full, but we’re prepared.”
The Guardians, of course, were consistently good all season long while earning the No. 2 seed and a first-round bye. Cleveland thrived under first-year manager Stephen Vogt.
But Detroit vs. Cleveland in the postseason? This is a first — and Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said the matchup is “good for baseball.”
“Detroit is a city that’s built around grit,” Hinch said Friday. “We say that all the time because we live it. Cleveland, obviously, a very good city, very proud of their sports teams, including the Guardians, who have been really good at getting to the playoffs and not too far removed from the World Series (2016).”
While the Tigers lack star power, Cleveland features one of the best players in the game in six-time All-Star third baseman Jose Ramirez.
Ramirez annually torches Detroit pitching. He batted .347 with five homers and 12 RBIs this season to raise his career numbers to 33 homers and 122 RBIs. He has a .304 average.
In the regular season, Ramirez batted .279 with 39 homers, 39 doubles, 41 steals and 118 RBIs. Only Aaron Judge (144) and Shohei Ohtani (130) had more RBIs.
“It’s one of my favorite parts of having this job is getting to watch (Jose) every single night,” Vogt said. “We’re spoiled.”
Ramirez’s first at-bat on Saturday will come against Detroit left-hander Tyler Holton, who will serve as the club’s opener for the second straight game.
Holton (7-2, 2.19 ERA) recorded one out in the Tigers’ Game 1 win over Houston before serving in the opener role and pitching a perfect first inning in Game 2.
Part of the reason for the 28-year-old Holton handling the first inning is to face Ramirez and having the switch-hitter bat right-handed. But the Cleveland star has controlled his at-bats against Holton by going 3-for-7 with two doubles.
“He’s probably going to be the most important matchup,” Holton said. “I know we had intentionally walked him in past games and whatnot.”
Right-hander Tanner Bibee (12-8, 3.47 ERA) will start for the Guardians.
Bibee, 25, went 1-1 with a 4.50 ERA in four starts against Detroit this season. Overall, he is 1-3 with a 5.28 ERA in six career outings against the Tigers.
Matt Vierling has two homers against Bibee and Kerry Carpenter has one.
The contest will be the first postseason outing for Bibee, and he feels he’s ready to handle the extra pressure.
“I don’t know if I’ll be more nervous, but I feel like there will definitely be a lot more adrenaline,” Bibee said. “I feel like the bigger crowds you have, I feel like naturally, wherever you are, I feel like you’re going to have more adrenaline, whether you’re facing more people or facing people with more people in the crowd, stuff like that. I feel like maybe a little bit.”
The slider is Bibee’s out pitch. Opponents batted .152 (25-for-164) with 58 strikeouts against his slider this season.
