Detroit Tigers Manager Makes Honest Observation on Team's Underdog Status
The Detroit Tigers will get started with their improbable postseason campaign on Tuesday afternoon at 2:30 p.m. EST in Houston for Game 1 of a best-of-three Wild Card series.
Of all the storylines heading into the playoffs, the Tigers even being there has to be right near the top of the list. In the middle of August, Detroit was eight games below .500 and 10 games back in the Wild Card race sitting with just a 0.2 percent chance to make it. From there, they went 32-11 over the final 42 games while the Minnesota Twins collapsed, losing 25 of their final 37 games to allow the Tigers to slip into the field.
Facing off against the AL West champion Houston Astros, the odds for Detroit don't get all that much better. But Tigers' manager A.J. Hinch kept it real when he was asked about the prospect of playing in the postseason as the heavy underdog.
"We're going to continue to be the underdog and that has not sucked for us in the last two months," Hinch said.
Of course, something also that will loom over the series is the fact that Hinch used to manage the Astros and was fired in the wake of the sign-stealing scandal in Houston shortly after being issued a one-year suspension. Hinch led the Astros to their first-ever World Series title in 2017 during his third season managing the team.
A remarkable run came to an end after the 2019 season and Hinch was hired in Detroit prior to the 2021 season after serving his suspension. Now in his fourth season with the team, Hinch has the Tigers back in the playoffs for the first time in a decade since 2014.
In order to win their first playoff series since 2013 when the team lost in six games to the Boston Red Sox in the ALCS after defeating Oakland in the ALDS, Detroit will have to win two of three games that will all be played in Houston. All three games, if necessary, will be played at 2:30 p.m. EST on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.
Game 1 on Tuesday afternoon pits presumptive AL Cy Young Tarik Skubal on the mound for the Tigers against Framber Valdez for Houston.
