close
close

first Drop

Com TW NOw News 2024

    • Confident Tigers embrace the win-or-go-home challenge in Game 5
    news

    Confident Tigers embrace the win-or-go-home challenge in Game 5

    Vaseline Posted on

    Cleveland — It feels like the Tigers have been here before, but they haven’t.

    Yes, their backs were against the wall for the final two months of the season as they pulled off a 31-13 disaster with no margin for error to reach the playoffs. Yes, the situation would have been dire if Kerry Carpenter hadn’t hit a three-run homer in Game 2 and sent this American League Division Series all the way to Detroit.

    But this is different.

    No more ‘flush and move on’. No more ‘reset and win tomorrow’. For the first time this season, when the Tigers and Guardians meet at Progressive Field on Saturday at 1:08 p.m., it will literally be win or go home.

    “I don’t think our team would have it any other way,” said presumptive Cy Young Award winner Tarik Skubal, who gets the ball for the Tigers. “This is why you play the game, for moments like this, and for stages like this, in this setting.

    “I think our guys will respond well, and it will be a lot of fun.”

    To truly understand the dynamics, nuances and magnitude of these elimination playoff games, spend a few minutes with Tigers skipper AJ Hinch.

    He has made two Game 7s in the World Series, winning in 2017 and losing in ’18.

    “It’s a great opportunity to be great,” he said. “Everyone remembers these matches. It’s not a burden. There is no stress, no tension on our side. We are going to enjoy every moment of this opportunity because this is where we are now; it is where we want to be.”

    The players certainly didn’t seem too burdened by the tough 5-4 loss in Game 4 when they headed straight from their plane to Progressive Field for practice on Friday afternoon.

    “I feel like there’s no room to go down at this stage,” Riley Greene said. “It’s win or go home. There is no room to be emotional or get your feelings hurt. You get a slap in the face. You must strike back immediately.”

    The combat reference was apt. Saturday marks the fifth meeting between these two teams this week and the 18th time they have competed against each other this season.

    Both teams have already shown their cards. Both teams used all their players and all their strategies. At this point, with everything on the line, it becomes a street fight, best against best, and whoever stands at the end goes to the ALCS.

    “These games are incredible,” Hinch said. “Every time a runner steps on base, there is a heightened awareness. Every time a score change occurs, there is an emotional reaction in and around the building. Everyone is on edge. Everyone knows what is at stake. There are no secrets.

    “It’s the best baseball you can get because everyone is all in, every moment, every pitch, every at-bat, and everyone can be the difference in the game.”

    Boyd vs. Skubal, remix

    It’s not like the game needs any additional storylines, but the Guardians will pit former Tigers lefty Matthew Boyd against Skubal in a remix of Game 2, when Skubal pitched seven scoreless innings and Boyd threw 4.2 scoreless innings.

    “We had discussions about everything,” said Guardians manager Stephen Vogt. “The Best Ways to Win Game 5. We discussed many different scenarios, but the one that kept coming up was that Matthew threw the ball well; he’s been great for us.

    “The way Matthew has taken the ball every time and participated, we feel really good about him taking the ball in a Game 5 scenario.”

    Skubal and Boyd are good friends. Boyd mentored Skubal. Skubal was the pillar Boyd could lean on during his rehabilitation process after Tommy John surgery. The two left Progressive Field together last Monday after the Tigers earned a 3-0 win in Game 2.

    But the friendship will be at a standstill for a few hours on Saturday.

    “That man means a lot to me,” Skubal said. “I have a lot of respect for him. His family is wonderful. Who he is in the clubhouse is great. That’s what I like about this game. It’s competitive. You do everything you can to win, but at the end of the day we are only human.

    “It’s cool to have that human interaction and just enjoy it.”

    During his press conference Friday, Boyd was asked about Skubal’s fiery emotions on the mound.

    “What Tarik is doing is great,” he said. “That’s perfect for him, right? He has that emotion. He has that fire. He feeds on that stuff, and like he is. You wouldn’t want him to be anyone else, would you? And I think that applies to everyone.”

    Ironically, Boyd was the one who got emotional on stage Friday. He was asked about his journey, how the Guardians signed him even though he wouldn’t be ready to pitch until August or September, and here he is, entering Game 5 with the season on the line.

    “Just gratitude,” he said, his voice cracking. “All those days you sit in the gym and this is what you dream about. This is what you want, and go do it.

    He had to stop and compose himself.

    “I don’t know where that came from,” he said of the tears. “But you’re excited about it, and that’s what you want. As if this is what you dream about. You dream about everything that leads to it.”

    Built for this

    Another irony: Left-hander Kerry Carpenter is not expected to be available for the Tigers after injuring his left hamstring in the sixth inning of Game 4. But with Boyd starting, Carpenter likely wouldn’t have been in the starting lineup. either way, though they’ll miss his bat late in the game against the Guardians’ strong right-handed relievers.

    “We know what we’re going to get, and they know what they’re going to get,” Greene said. “We’ve seen each other so many times. We know what’s going to happen. It’s who gets the big hit, who makes the big pitches. Just play the game and play your ass off.

    “It’s you against the pitcher, and nothing else matters. Your goal, your job, is to beat that man on the hill. You go out there with that mentality, and you grind, and you do what you can to win.

    If the Tigers enter Game 5 contention with more confidence than you’d expect from such a young team in its first playoff trip, it’s because they know No. 29 is on the mound. On Skubal’s starting days they are 23-10.

    “He was built for this moment,” Spencer Torkelson said.

    The broadest shoulders carry the heaviest weight.

    “Playoff baseball is just so much fun,” Skubal said. “I think it brings out the best in everyone, the focus, the drive. … You work hard, and you prepare for these moments, and then you just go out and play.

    “I’m going to go out there and compete and give it everything I’ve got.”

    The Game 5 start time was moved from 8:08 PM to 1:08 PM because storms were forecast for the Cleveland area on Saturday evening.

    “I’m just glad we’re getting it in before the rain starts,” Vogt said. “Nobody wants to play through rain delays, and then you have to put a starter through a rain delay. It was the right decision to take the game to the next level, and hopefully it will be a great Saturday in Cleveland.”

    Six months, 169 games, all the valleys and rallies, all the heartbreak and heroics, and the season comes down to one game. Win or go home.

    “It’s a competition and I love that both teams are fighting,” Hinch said. “I like the fact that there is fame. I love the challenge and the fact that it means so much to so many of us who have put everything into this. So we’re going to embrace it.

    “There is no stress or fear about being in this position because we earned it. And now we’ll see where it takes us. And we have every opportunity to win, not just because of the guy we start on the mound, but because of the collective group within it.

    [email protected]

    @cmccosky

    Vaseline
    View all posts

    You Might Also Like