Tigers and Guardians both clinch playoff spots; AL Central will come down to final day of season

The Detroit Tigers and Cleveland Guardians are both in the playoffs, but the AL Central title will come down to the final game of the season.

With a 2-1 win over the Boston Red Sox on Saturday at Fenway Park, the Tigers clinched a second straight playoff berth. Hours later, the Guardians won via a walk-off hit-by-pitch to guarantee their magical season won’t end Sunday.

With the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth and two outs, Texas Rangers pitcher Robert Garcia hit pinch hitter C.J. Kayfus with a pitch. Both batter and pitcher immediately knew what the impact meant.

While the Tigers and Guardians are postseason-bound, the bigger question is what will happen in the AL Central race between them. The division has gone from noncompetitive to perhaps the biggest comeback in MLB history in the span of less than three weeks, with the Tigers on the verge of the worst kind of history.

Both teams winning Saturday preserves a tie atop the AL Central, with the Guardians holding the tiebreaker. That means they can clinch the division with a win or a Tigers loss on Sunday.

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Also at stake is playoff positioning. Both teams are a single game back from the Boston Red Sox for the second wild-card spot. With Detroit playing Boston, here’s how the wild-card matchups could work out Sunday:

• Tigers win, Guardians win: No. 6 Red Sox at No. 3 Guardians, No. 5 Tigers at No. 4 Yankees/Blue Jays

• Tigers win, Guardians lose: No. 6 Guardians at No. 3 Tigers, No. 5 Red Sox at No. 4 Yankees/Blue Jays

• Tigers lose, Guardians win: No. 6 Tigers at No. 3 Guardians, No. 5 Red Sox at No. 4 Yankees/Blue Jays

• Tigers lose, Guardians lose: No. 6 Tigers at No. 3 Guardians, No. 5 Red Sox at No. 4 Yankees/Blue Jays

The New York Yankees and Toronto Blue Jays are currently tied atop the AL East at 93-68, with Toronto holding the tiebreaker, so it will be the Yankees in the wild-card series unless they win and the Jays lose Sunday.

For Sunday’s finale against the Red Sox, Tigers manager AJ Hinch said he wouldn’t send ace Tarik Skubal to the mound unless it was absolutely necessary to get into the postseason. As a result, Skubal is instead in line to be the Game 1 starter on Tuesday in the wild-card round.

“If we need to get into the playoffs, we’re going to pitch Tarik,” Tigers manager A.J. Hinch told the Detroit Free Press on Friday. “If we’ve clinched a playoff berth, then we won’t pitch him.”