One hundred sixty-two games weren’t enough, so the Twins and the Tigers will play a Game 163 this evening to decide the winner the AL Central. As an added bonus, the victor will get to take on the 103-win Yankees in the Division Series. The loser, well they go home for the winter.
Jim Leyland’s club held a seven-game lead in the division as late as the morning of Sept. 7th, but they finished the year on a 12-15 schnide while the Twinkies won 16 of their final 20 games to make up the difference. Through 162-games the Tigers sport a -1 run differential, the Twins +51. That alone should tell you the Fightin’ Mauers are the better team, but the game will also be played in Minnesota, where the Twins went 48-33 this year. The Tigers? They went 35-46 on the road. Oh, and there’s that whole Miguel Cabrera mess, too.
I’m not sure who I’m pulling for — I guess the Twins because of the whole comeback story. Here’s the lineups:
Detroit
Curtis Granderson, CF
Placido Polanco, 2B
Magglio Ordonez, RF
Miguel Cabrera, 1B
Carlos Guillen, DH
Ryan Raburn, LF
Brandon Inge, 3B
Gerald Laird, C
Ramon Santiago, SS
Rick Porcello, SP (14-9, 4.04)
Minnesota
Denard Span, CF
Orlando Cabrera, SS
Joe Mauer, C
Jason Kubel, RF
Michael Cuddyer, 1B
Delmon Young, LF
Jose Morales, C
Matt Tolbert, 3B
Nick Punto, 2B
Scott Baker, SP (15-9, 4.36)
First pitch is set for 5:07 p.m. ET, and you can watch on TBS. Enjoy the game.