Cleveland Guardians vs. Detroit Tigers Wild Card Game 1 keys to victory

Skubal noted that Progressive Field was "buzzing" when discussing his last postseason in the American League Division Series, where the Guardians defeated the Tigers in Game 5, a game where Skubal did not look like the Cy-Young winner we saw in Game 2 of that series.

The Guardians have shown they can get to Skubal, and they did so last week in their come from behind win, where Skubal looked totally rattled. Long snapping a ball over the first baseman’s head, balking the runner to third, and throwing a wild pitch. Those mistakes brought the Guardians a crucial win towards claiming the American League Central crown. 

These are our keys to victory:

Strong outing from Gavin Williams

Williams needs to give the Guardians six innings or more. If he can keep his pitch count low and get you to the seventh-inning, you feel good about your chances with this bullpen. In three starts against the Tigers this year, The Big Rig has struck out 29 batters, and given up just 2 earned runs. 

Keep the pitch count low, and pass it to the bullpen. 

Play Guards Ball

Runs will be tough to come across against Skubal. The Guardians will need to take what they can get. Causing chaos on the base paths, bunts, bloops, whatever it takes. 

We saw it last week, three runs in one-inning, and a ball didn’t leave the infield. 

Keep momentum moving from Sunday

Sunday was an absolute thrilling comeback in a game that didn’t matter, since the Guardians had already clinched the division win or loss, due to the Tigers 4-3 loss to the Red Sox. 

After Zak Kent gave up a three-run home run in the top of the 10th inning to Rowdy Tellez, the Guardians ended up walking it off in the bottom half of the inning, thanks to a RBI double from Bo Naylor, and a three-run homer from Brayan Rocchio. 

You don’t want to go into the playoffs on a loss, and to go into the playoffs on a swing like that is huge. 

You need any momentum you can get when you’re facing Tarik Skubal.

It’s not going to be easy, but the Guardians have their guy throwing, the Tigers have their guy throwing. Find a way to get a few runs across and pass it to that bullpen.