The Guardians and Tigers open their best-of-three AL wild card series Tuesday at 1:08 p.m. at Progressive Field.

At their lowest, the Guardians were 15 ½ games back on July 6. The Tigers, who led the division by 10 games as recently as Sept. 3, stumbled down the stretch and finished September with an 8-16 mark.

The Guardians dropped their second consecutive game, this one to the Rangers, as they try to lock down a playoff spot heading into the weekend.

The Guardians already knew they were AL Central Division champs – that had happened about an hour earlier when Detroit lost in Boston. That gave the Tigers an 87-75 record. It also meant Cleveland would host the best-of-three wild card series starting Tuesday … against … the Tigers, of course.

Brayan Rocchio hit a walk-off home run as the Guardians ended the regular season. Earlier, they secured the AL Central title when the Tigers lost.

The Cleveland Guardians are AL Central champions. Their comeback from 15 1/2 games out in the division is the largest by any team in major-league history. They battled all the way back from 15.5 games back to surpass the Detroit Tigers and make history. This sets up yet another battle against the Tigers starting Tuesday in the AL Wild Card round.

Before diving into a breakdown of the playoff picture, here's what's at stake Sunday and what has happened so far: Blue Jays: Tied with the Yankees atop the AL East; the winner will clinch the No. 1 seed in the AL,

Pregame analysis and predictions of the Texas Rangers vs. Cleveland Guardians MLB game to be played on September 28, 2025 on ESPN.