The final game of a baseball season is always funky, regardless of where your team is at, but today was a bit stranger than usual. AJ Hinch has had several quotes trying to deny it, but the lineup and pitching moves today speak for themselves. He very clearly did not value this game. They didn't start Tarik Skubal, which I don't think was a complaint that anyone had. It's better to have him on complete rest for a playoff series, but he did not appear like he was managing to win this game. He stretched Chris Paddack for as long as he could and never once used any of his high-leverage relievers, clearly valuing rest over the potential for a home series to begin the postseason.
I'm split on how I feel about this. I guess this now means that the collapse is officially complete. Cleveland is your American League Central Division champion, and Detroit is going to have another crack at them in the postseason. I still would've liked to have seen Detroit do something that they haven't done in 11 years, which is win the Central. Still, if Detroit wins a few games against Cleveland early next week, people won't be talking about the collapse anymore, so I understand both sides of the argument. As far as the regular season is concerned, I would've preferred not to be on the bad side of history.
This was a difficult game to evaluate, as it genuinely felt like both teams were going through the motions. If there's anything I can take away from this game that's positive, it feels like the Tigers are getting the best version of Javy Baez down the stretch here. He's been asked to play a much different role on this team, and for what he's been asked to do, he's performed admirably this season. I'm always going to have my issues with his approach, and I find his free-swinging methods to be very sloppy, but at the same time, he's had some big hits. Weird things can happen in October, and if a guy at the bottom of the order like that can get hot, it could be big for the Tigers.
Now the name of the game is revenge, as Detroit heads to Cleveland for a best-of-three series where it will try to right some wrongs and exorcise some demons. Well, it's going to take years off my life. From a narrative standpoint, this had to happen. If Detroit wants to kickstart a run in October, they're going to have to go through Cleveland. I would have greatly preferred that Detroit buried them in the regular season, especially since they had numerous opportunities to do so, but the past is the past, and we can't change it. Detroit knows this team in Cleveland knows Detroit.
This will all feel very familiar. These teams will have played each other at least eight times in two weeks. Detroit absolutely has the pieces to be Cleveland. If you look at things from an overall number standpoint, Detroit probably should be Cleveland, but when these teams play each other, the ball seems to bounce Cleveland's way. But at some point, the tide has to turn. Hopefully, it turns on Tuesday.