BOSTON — Aubert Et Fils Brut champagne dripped from the visitors’ clubhouse ceiling Saturday evening. Lite Pilsner sprayed, too.
Exhales hung in the air as did the cigar smoke that permeated the room. Hank Williams Jr.’s “Dinosaur” rattled the speakers. Players sang along.
They had reason to.
It took a lot. Uncertainty. Frustration. Doubt.
But the slow drip — the one that tested the Tigers all September — finally filled the cup. A 2-1 win over the Red Sox at Fenway on Sunday delivered it: in Game 161, they had clinched a playoff berth.
“This is all that matters,” said ace Tarik Skubal, who will likely win his second straight Cy Young Award in November. “You play this game to get in the postseason. It doesn’t matter how you get there, once you get there, let’s just play baseball.”
That it came down to this is hard to fathom. Through August, the Tigers held the second-best record in baseball, trailing only the surging Brewers. Better than the Dodgers. Better than the Padres. Better than the Phillies. Yet a collapse was already brewing at their peak. Since Aug. 24, Detroit had dropped 21 of 28 games heading into Saturday, including 12 of their last 14.
What once looked like one of the league’s best stories turned into a catastrophe. The Guardians, despite a summer marred by suspensions tied to alleged betting and a deadline sell-off, caught fire. At one point, they ripped off 10 straight wins and 17 of 20. That 15 ½-game cushion Detroit once held is gone. It all comes down to the season’s final day, with Cleveland holding the tiebreaker.
But in that clubhouse, you couldn’t feel the collapse. Only relief. Only the release of a team that finally let itself breathe. The celebration carried a promise of something brighter, even if the road to get here nearly ended in disaster.
How the Tigers got here has to do with myriad flaws.
Beyond Tarik Skubal, Detroit’s rotation has been a mess. Hinch had to turn to Keider Montero as the “bulk” arm in what he called the most important game of the season. The rest of the staff hasn’t held up. Jack Flaherty, the big offseason addition, has a 4.64 ERA. Casey Mize looked sharp through June with a 2.82 ERA in 14 starts. In his next 14, he stumbled to a 4.99.
The Tigers’ trade deadline moves fell flat. Chris Paddack, brought in from the Twins, gave Detroit six starts and a 5.40 ERA before being pushed to the bullpen. Charlie Morton, the veteran expected to steady the rotation, didn’t last. He posted a 7.09 ERA in nine games and was designated for assignment.
The bats didn’t carry the load, either. Javy Báez went from starting the All-Star Game while hitting .280 in the first half to batting .184 entering Saturday. Outside of Riley Greene — and to a lesser degree Spencer Torkelson — there’s been little consistent pop.
Still, the Tigers have clawed to this point. They remain in the hunt for the AL Central heading into Game 162.
“Really nothing matters,” Greene said. “What happened doesn’t matter. We’re here and we’re ready.”
Skubal, who was in line to pitch Sunday, will rest instead and be lined up for Game 1 of the Wild Card Series. The division means something, but not enough to run your ace out there. That’s a risk Detroit isn’t willing to take. Instead, Paddack will take the ball.
The Tigers ace stopped mid-interview. “Hold on, I have to shotgun this,” he said, lifting his beer.
It spilled down his chin, dripping onto his blue postseason T-shirt like the beer and champagne falling from the clubhouse ceiling. The celebration carried on. Players sang louder.
It finally rained down the way they’d been waiting for.