Detroit Tigers outfielder Riley Greene (31) reacts after striking out against during the third inning at Comerica Park in Detroit on Sunday, Sept. 21, 2025. Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Tigers Left Shocking Number of Runners Stranded in Wild Card Loss

Originally posted on Detroit Tigers on SI
By Maddy Dickens | Last updated Oct 1, 2025 6:32 PM ET

The Wild Card matchup between the Detroit Tigers and the Cleveland Guardians has been a painful one to watch for Tigers fans, as this offense has failed to do much of anything and things are now tied up at a win apiece after Detroit fell to their archrivals 6-1.

Despite the offensive frustration, the Tigers came out of the opener with a win even though they were 1-for-8 with runners in scoring position. Tarik Skubal and his historic dominance was able to cover for them in the opener, but unfortunately, the RISP issues continued into Game 2 and got worse.

Lots of Hits, Hardly Any Runs

In the Game 2 matchup, the RISP woes immediately continued. In the first inning, Detroit started off strong with a pair of runners on base and not a single out. But neither crossed home plate, which was a sign of things to come for this offense on Wednesday.

There were four consecutive innings where the Tigers had not one, but two runners left stranded on base. When two runners got on base in the seventh, there wasn't a single out on the board. But once again, the offense wasn't able to get either of them to touch home plate, either.

After the Guardians took a commanding lead in the bottom of the eighth inning, the top of the next frame was brutal to watch when Detroit gave some up that they could make a run at overcoming their five-run deficit.

The Tigers were able to get the bases loaded with two outs, but once again, no damage was done as catcher Dillion Dingler lined out to Cleveland's first baseman to end the game and tie up the series.

the detroit tigers when there’s runners on base pic.twitter.com/MXcxUtomAK
— ⚡️ (@DBillius) October 1, 2025

After two playoff games, the Tigers have officially left 21 runners on base, with 15 of those coming in their 6-1 loss on Tuesday. They have also gone a staggering 2-for-23 with runners in scoring position, with a 1-for-15 effort in their Game 2 loss. There is no way a team can win games with that type of production, so even if they get through this series, the offense has to get that figured out quickly.

Detroit also had a ton of strikeouts in this matchup with a chance to sweep Cleveland. They finished the game with 11 K's compared to only three from the Guardians, which was a major contributor to the Tigers being awful in opportunities to score.

Cleveland forced a Game 3, but Detroit also gave it to them. The Tigers had multiple chances to take this series since the first time the Guardians even had a runner in scoring position wasn't until the bottom of the eighth inning.

Now, Detroit will have to shake this off if they want to advance to the division series.