HOUSTON (SportsRadio 610)- When Joe Espada manages his first Major League playoff game on Tuesday afternoon, he'll do so against the man that first brought him to Houston seven years ago.
Espada and the Astros will face A.J. Hinch's Detroit Tigers in a best two-of-three Wild Card Series that will pit the team with the most postseason experience in the American League against the team with the least. Hinch hired Espada to be the Astros bench coach after Alex Cora took over the Red Sox following the 2017 season.
After trading away number two starter Jack Flaherty along with Mark Canha before the trade deadline, the Tigers sat with a 55-63 record on August 10. FanGraphs gave them a 0.2 percent of advancing the playoffs, but Detroit won 31-of-42 games and clinched their first playoff berth since 2014.
The Tigers are headlined by likely unanimous Cy Young Award winner Tarik Skubal. He won the AL pitcher's triple crown, finishing the season 18-4 with a 2.39 ERA and 228 strikeouts in 192 innings. The 27-year old when 1-1 against the Astros this season, allowing six runs in 12.2 innings. Skubal struck out at least five hitters in every start but one: June 14 against the Astros when he fanned two.
Detroit is anything but traditional after Skubal, employing openers and utilizing a deep pitching staff that finished the season with a 3.61 ERA fourth best in Major League Baseball, but that number dropped to 2.61 after August 10, which led the league.
Offensively, the Tigers were below average over the course of the 162 game season, finishing with baseball's seventh lowest OPS, but they have been middle of the pack since August 10. Only six teams hit fewer home runs and struck out more, while only four teams stole fewer bases. They did, however, lead the league in triples.
With a 134 OPS+, 2019 first round pick Riley Greene has been the Tigers best hitters over the course of the season. Matt Vierling, is the Tigers only other qualifying hitter to finish 2024 with an OPS+ over 100. He is also the only Tigers position player with postseason experience having played on the Phillies 2022 World Series team.
Kerry Carpenter finished the season with a .930 OPS, but a back injury forced him to miss 66 games.
The Astros won 4-of-6 regular season meetings, but the last game between the two teams was June 16 when the Astros were six games under .500 and the Tigers were three games under.
ASTROS-TIGERS SERIES SCHEDULE
Game 1: Tuesday, 1:32 pm
Game 2: Wednesday, 1:32 pm
Game 3: Thursday, 1:32 pm ***If Necessary***
