The Detroit Tigers just need one more win to win the American League Championship Series, after a 3-0 victory over the Cleveland Guardians. On August 22, the Tigers had a 62-66 record, with the 10th best record in the American League. They are 11.5 games behind league leaders Guardians and were beaten in the regular season. Detroit then went 24-10 to finish the regular season and miraculously earn a berth in the finals. After trading away their No. 2 starter, Jack Flaherty. Now, with a starting pitcher and a roster full of outfielders, underdogs and overlooked additions, they are on the doorstep of one of the more worthy ALCS berths. Most surprising in recent history. And does a spectacular job of exposing the randomness and absurdity of the modern MLB postseason format in the process.

Detroit Tigers Pitching Chaos Hoodie

The Tigers’ 3-0 victory was a miniature example of modern baseball; a lineup of reserve players and a “big group” that fills the traditional starting player role. Keider Montero “started” the game, before Brant Hurter went three scoreless innings, despite allowing five hits. Beau Brieske overcame two dominant innings with three strikeouts, Sean Guenther, Will Vest and Tyler Holton finished the game by allowing just one combined hit. The Guardians have an 0-8 record with runners in scoring position, and are just 2-29 outside of Steven Kwan. Meanwhile, the Tigers got an RBI single from Riley Greene, a sacrifice bunt from Matt Vierling and a sixth-inning double from Spencer Torkelson.

This is how baseball works. Ask even avid baseball fans to name the Tigers’ entire pitching lineup or their most commonly used starting lineup, and they’ll have a hard time naming a single one. some names. But in the modern playoff slate designed to increase MLB’s bottom line, all it takes is winning 85-86 games and making it to the tournament. From there, it’s an exercise in randomness. Gone are the days when teams that dominated the regular season regularly made it to the postseason, or even gained an advantage from finishing with the best record or division championship. Obviously starting pitchers were also unnecessary, given the Tigers’ ability to field cheap, unscripted saves in an engineered “pitching chaos” strategy.