The 2024 MLB postseason begins this week with the best-of-three Wild Card Series. The No. 3 Houston Astros, winners of the AL West, will host the No. 6 Detroit Tigers at Minute Maid Park this week, and the winner will advance to play the Cleveland Guardians in the best-of-five ALDS. The Astros are part of the postseason fray for the eighth straight year. The Tigers, meanwhile, are making their first playoff appearance since 2014.
Here is the Wild Card Series schedule:
| Date | Start time | TV | |
|---|---|---|---|
Game 1 | Tues., Oct. 1 | 2:32 p.m. ET | ABC/fubo (try for free) |
Game 2 | Weds., Oct. 2 | 2:32 p.m. ET | ABC/fubo (try for free) |
Game 3 (if necessary) | Thurs., Oct. 3 | 2:32 p.m. ET | ABC/fubo (try for free) |
Where to watch
Date: Tuesday, Oct. 1 | Time: 2:32 p.m. ET
Location: Minute Maid Park (Houston)
Channel: ABC | Stream: fubo
Probable pitchers: LHP Framber Valdez (15-7, 2.91 ERA) vs. LHP Tarik Skubal (18-4, 2.39 ERA)
Odds: HOU -135 | DET +115; over/under: 6.5
Game 1 will occasion a clash of aces, as AL Cy Young frontrunner Tarik Skubal goes for Detroit against Houston's Framber Valdez. The rotations for the remainder of this opening-round series are yet to be announced. On the Houston side, MLB.com says Hunter Brown and Yusei Kikuchi are likely to start Games 2 and 3, respectively. As for Skubal, that the Tigers were able to clinch their spot before the final day of the regular season allowed them to hold back their ace for the Game 1 start.
Here now is what you need to know about each team heading into the Wild Card Series.
Tigers: The Tigers are in the playoffs for the first time in a decade, and it was an unlikely run. They were nine games under .500 as recently as the Fourth of July, and they were 16 games out of first place in the AL Central as recently as Aug. 2. They were not expected to contend this season, and that's indeed how things looked for quite a while. Detroit went 47-50 in the first half, and leading up to the trade deadline they behaved like sellers, particularly with the deal that sent No. 2 starter Jack Flaherty to the Dodgers. In the second half, however, the Tigers went 39-26 with a plus-47 run differential. That surge allowed them to pass the Twins for the final playoff spot.
The subplot for the Tigers is manager A.J. Hinch. Hinch spent five seasons as manager of the Astros and guided them to the World Series crown -- the first in franchise history -- in 2017. Hinch was fired as part of the fallout from the sign-stealing scandal and then suspended by MLB for the entire 2020 season. Then the Tigers gave him a shot at redemption, and now he gets a "revenge series" of sorts against the team he led to glory not so long ago.
Astros: The Astros will be trying to make it at least as far as the ALCS for the eighth straight season. That makes them the closest thing we've got to a modern MLB dynasty. They'll also be angling for their third World Series title in those last eight years. Things didn't start swimmingly for Houston this season under first-year manager Joe Espada. At one point in early May, they were 12 games below .500, and as late as June 18 they trailed the Mariners by 10 games in the AL West. However, the rotation got healthy, Alex Bregman found his level, and the Astros surged. Recent history teaches us not to doubt them in October.
