Today marked the close of the MLB 2025 regular season. In the American League Central, 2025 has been a tale of two cities: Detroit and Cleveland.
Consider Detroit the hare. The Tigers were the best team in baseball for much of the season. They set a franchise record for wins before May. They were the first team to X amount of wins many times over. Beyond their hot start, Detroit has played to the tune of an 87-74 record, playing winning baseball both at home (46-35) and on the road (41-39, entering
today).
Cleveland, of course, is the tortoise. Their run differential sat 75 runs worse than Detroit’s entering today’s action. As recently as just over one month ago, they sat 12.5 games back of Detroit in the division (more than twice the distance Kansas City, who will miss the postseason, sits from either city today).
Over the course of September, Cleveland overtook Detroit in the American League Central, and, entering today, the two teams sat tied following a walk-off hit-by-pitcher for Cleveland late yesterday evening at Progressive Field (even worse, the pitcher had never hit a batter in his major league career prior to this moment).
Today, Detroit did not face Aroldis Chapman in a one-run save situation, but they failed to score with two runners on and one out, laying their division title hopes to rest. Today, Detroit pitched Chris Paddack for over 100 pitches to save a few arms for the Wildcard Series, while resting Spencer Torkelson, Riley Greene, Gleyber Torres, Dillon Dingler despite two key pinch-hit opportunities with runners on. They also rested all of their pitchers beyond Paddack, Paul Sewald, and Tanner Rainey, none of whom will be a factor in the postseason. Today, Cleveland did their part, losing 5-4. The Tigers once again did not do theirs.
And so, the Detroit Tigers lost the American League Central to the Cleveland Guardians by losing 4-3 to the Boston Red Sox on the final day of the regular season. They faced a pitcher who had posted an 0-9 record and 6.93 ERA in Triple-A this season. In the process they completed likely the worst divisional collapse in the sport’s history. Feel excited for the postseason yet?
It was the best of times,
it was the worst of times,
it was the age of wisdom,
it was the age of foolishness,
it was the epoch of belief,
it was the epoch of incredulity,
it was the season of Light,
it was the season of Darkness,
it was the spring of hope,
it was the winter of despair,
we had nothing before us (me omitting a link in this line represents the lack of a Tigers division title under Chris Ilitch, Scott Harris, and A.J. Hinch),
we were all going direct to Heaven (uh, the postseason against the team that just pillaged us?),
we were all going direct the other way (Cleveland fan trash talk for the rest of our lives)—
in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.
See you Tuesday for postseason baseball. Considering what a disaster September has been, it’s only fitting that Tarik Skubal and the Tigers all have to face down their Progressive Field demons to advance. Bet on the Guardians-Tigers getting second billing and playing all two or three games, if necessary, at 1:10 p.m. on ESPN. Skubal will presumably face Gavin Williams in Game 1 on Tuesday.
