Twins Tigers To Play 1-Game Playoff for AL Central

The Detroit Tigers and Minnesota Twins are set to play in a 1-game playoff game Tuesday 5PM EDT at the Metrodome.  The Tigers will send their young 20 year-old phenom Rick Porcello (14-9) against Minnesota's Scott Baker (15-9).  The winner will move on to play the NY Yankees in the best of five ALDS

As the team that finished the season with the league's best record, the Yankees can choose whether they want to start game 1 against the winner of Tigers-Twins on Wednesday or Thursday. Most likely, the Yankees will choose Wednesday to start game 1 because the Tigers/ Twins winner will have less than 24 hours to fly all the way to NYC to get ready for the game.

For the Twins, winning the game and the AL Central would complete an improbable comeback for a team languishing in 3rd place, 5.5 games back of the 1st place Tigers on September 12, the same day they would lose their All-Star 1st baseman Justin Morneau to a season ending surgery.  A win for the Twins would also be a sweet way to cap off their final season at the Metrodome, before moving to their new ballpark next spring in 2010.

For the Tigers, losing the game tomorrow would cap off a total collapse for a team that was in 1st place for nearly the entire season.  It would also fuel speculation that Miguel Cabrera's intoxication and behavior last Saturday morning was a major distraction to the Tigers.