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I don't want to rush things, but I'm wondering who you think the Detroit Tigers should face in the American League Championship Series? Yankees or Royals?

Because this series is over. After the Tigers took a 2-1 lead in the division series with a 3-0 win over Cleveland on Wednesday in front of 44,885 ecstatic fans at Comerica Park, one thing is clear: The Tigers will not lose to the Guardians at home on Thursday Game 4.

And even if the Guardians somehow learn not to shoot the ball, walk consecutive Tigers batters, trap all eight of their runners in scoring position, and then get stunned at the plate by rookie pitchers like Keider Montero and Brant Hurter, hit They didn't have Tarik Skubal in Game 5 in Cleveland on Saturday.

So do everyone a favor, Tigers. Don't screw this up. Because you can't screw this up. Not for this team.

Put the Guardians out of their misery and finish things at home. Fire up “Don't Stop Believin'” one last time in this series so we can think about how many days from now this team will return to the World Series for the first time since 2012.

See? I told you that I'm not exaggerating when I talk about a World Series game – even though I like the Padres, and not just so I can eat fish tacos when I talk about the games in the fabulous Gaslamp Quarter in San Diego reports.

The third game of a series is often the most consequential, and that was true Wednesday when the Tigers exposed the Guardians as a team that needed to make no moves.

It happened when Cleveland's Stephen Vogt, a candidate for AL Manager of the Year, tried to counteract the Tigers' “pitching chaos” by creating a hitting chaos of his own by using pinch hitters in the second and third innings with favorable matchups.

But Vogt's version of chaos backfired when right-handers Jhonkensy Noel and David Fry failed to get a hit from Hurter, a left-hander, while runners were in scoring position.

“So we thought this was the opportunity to take our chance,” said Vogt, “both with Noel and Fry in the background. Those were high-leverage situations where we had a chance to get to the duel, but we just didn’t do it.”

The guards' desperation gives the Tigers an advantage

Because they couldn't get through, the Guardians couldn't score a run in the final 20 innings. If you think they were desperate before Game 3, wait until they play in the elimination game on Thursday.

The biggest reason for Vogt's decision to pinch hit so early was that it forced him to play a game he wasn't used to. It forced him into AJ Hinch's game.

“We’ve been doing this for a few months,” Hinch said. “So our guys responded positively and did an incredible job of standing up, preparing and getting their hitters out to near perfection as far as creating situations and getting through the strike zone and doing their part to put pressure on them exercise to continue the innings.” ”

Players in the Tigers' clubhouse called their manager a wizard because of the way he uses his pitching staff. In fact, Hinch looked like a pocket artist, pulling coins from behind Vogt's ear while his counterpart gaped in amazement at the result.

“We prepare very, very well for these situations,” said Vogt, defending his aggressive pinch-hitting strategy. “Nothing that happened today surprised us. We were prepared for everything. When we had a chance to score some runs, we tried to make some runs and then we just didn't come through.”

Yes. While one manager cashes in blackjack after blackjack, the other quietly goes bankrupt, wondering when the casino thugs will come and throw him out.

The Tigers don't have a ton of power on offense, so Hinch and his players know they don't have an endless supply of chips to waste. But their bets were calculated and paid out at exactly the right time.

Riley Greene, in a 15-2 postseason loss, recorded his first postseason RBI with a soft single up the middle in the first inning. In the third round they scored another goal with Matt Vierling's sacrifice fly.

They capped off their final run with two key hits in the sixth inning. Rookie Colt Keith ended an 11-0 loss with a hard single and scored as Spencer Torkelson ended his 14-0 loss with a double.

“Yeah, just grind, stay in the fight and just keep going,” Torkelson said of his approach during the crisis. “It really is. In the playoffs you don't get stuck in numbers. You just try to win baseball games, and we did that.”

The Tigers continue to play under pressure

Something else that shouldn't be forgotten are all the fundamentals the Tigers have leaned on, like smart baserunning and solid, if not spectacular, defense. Trey Sweeney's throwing error in the third inning was the Tigers' first in five postseason games.

But Vierling made up for that rare fielding faux pas with defensive play in the seventh inning as he returned to his days as a recreational basketball player at Notre Dame. With two outs and runners on first and second, Fry hit a 102 mph screamer down the third base line.

With speedy Steven Kwan as the starter, Fry's hit could have scored two runs. But Vierling, who said in college he could dunk and is pretty sure he still can, defied gravity to jump, make the punt and keep Cleveland scoreless.

Now the Tigers are one win away from the ALCS. You know it. They know what's at stake on Thursday night.

“Like we’re all human,” Torkelson said. “So we can hear the noise. We know how close we are. But it just goes back to one pitch at a time, one out at a time.”

That's been the Tigers' approach all season and certainly since Aug. 11 and into the postseason.

“So that worked,” Torkelson said. “So if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”

That's easy to say for Torkelson and the Tigers. As for the Guardians? There are currently not enough craftsmen in the world to help them.

Contact Carlos Monarrez: [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @cmonarrez.

On By John Fenwick

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