BOSTON (AP) — The Boston clinch party moved across the diamond.
Less than 24 hours after the Red Sox drenched the home clubhouse at Fenway Park to celebrate their postseason berth, the Detroit Tigers were spraying Champagne in the visitors’ locker room Saturday after beating Boston to earn a spot in the American League playoffs.
“They didn’t forget to celebrate, I’ll tell you that,” Tigers manager A.J. Hinch told reporters as he ducked into a hallway to try to get away from the postgame mayhem. “We’re having a good time because we’ve earned it. But it’s very rewarding to get to the postseason, no matter how you do it.”
After blowing a 14-game lead in the AL Central and an eighth-inning lead on Friday night that would have secured their spot a day earlier, the Tigers on Saturday. Assured at least a wild card, Detroit can still win the division and host a first-round series — but only with help from Cleveland.
The victory with one game to play averted a collapse that would have been among the biggest in baseball history. The Guardians, who were in fourth place and 15 1/2 games back on July 7, can still post the biggest comeback ever if they win their last two games (or one if Detroit loses on Sunday).
“We’ll be watching and paying attention to what’s going on around the league,” said Hinch, who will save ace Tarik Skubal for the Wild Card Series opener on Tuesday instead of using him to try to win the division on Sunday.
“Our guys earned this celebration,” the manager added, “and because of how good we were for the majority of the season, we were able to withstand a really tough stretch and finish with a couple of wins.”
Will Vest retired Carlos Narváez on a groundout to third for the final out, pumping his fist in celebration before his teammates joined him at the mound. Before returning to the raucous clubhouse, the Tigers donned blue “October Baseball” T-shirts – just like the red ones the Red Sox wore the night before.
“I absolutely hated it” watching Boston celebrate the night before, designated hitter Jahmai Jones said. “I hate losing. So when you feel like it’s going to happen on night one, and it didn’t, everybody kind of understood the kind of taste that left in our mouth.
“But we knew that we had a great opportunity the next day,” he said. “And we really focused today on trying to get that win.”
Inside the clubhouse, Hinch tried to pull reporters away from the commotion, but Skubal tracked him down and sprayed him so enthusiastically he broke an exit sign hanging from the ceiling (which he then fixed).
The team surrounded owner Chris Ilitch and — after giving him a chance to get his goggles on — drenched him with beer and Champagne. They made a circle and sang along to the music blasting through the room, then posed for a team picture.
“Baseball, it’s not a straight line,” Ilitch said. “It’s a long baseball season. There’s going to be ups, and there’s going to be downs. We had a lot of ups and we had some downs, but here we are.”
Even Red Sox manager Alex Cora, whose brother Joey is the Tigers’ third base coach, was feeling the tension before the game.
“It’s been tough to watch, to be honest with you. It’s the total opposite of last year,” when Detroit was 16 games back in July but rallied to earn a wild-card berth and return to the playoffs for the first time since 2014.
“They’re a really good team. We’ll see what happens in the upcoming days. But talking to my brother throughout, it’s been a grind for them. Yesterday was tough for them. So we’ll see.”
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