DETROIT (Michigan News Source) – A match-up of two teams that didn’t have great outlooks for the playoffs at All-Star break are now paired up to compete in the AL Wild Card playoffs. Detroit heads south for a three-game post-season series in Houston starting on Tuesday at 2:32 p.m.
This series brings a lot of story lines as the Astros were 10 games back of the Mariners before winning the division. Detroit had a 0.2 percent chance of making the playoffs on August 10 at 55-63. Detroit went 31-13 from that point, and the Astros climbed back into contention before winning the division last week.
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A.J. Hinch led the Astros to four post-season appearances in five seasons, two World Series appearances, and a championship in 2017. He was then suspended for a year and fired by the Astros after the sign-stealing scandal in 2020.
Detroit took a chance on Hinch in 2021, and now he has Detroit in the playoffs for the first time since 2014.
He comments, “Baseball, I’ll tell you, its’ going to take you places and sometimes it’s going to take you places where you’ve been. So I look forward to the challenge.”
A third story line for the series is Detroit will see Justin Verlander who was a beloved Tiger from 2005 to 2017. He helped them to three straight appearances in the AL Championship Series from 2011-2013.
The series starts on Tuesday, with all three games in Houston at 2:32 p.m.
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