The Detroit Tigers technically avoided a terrible collapse by making the American League playoffs. But as they open the AL Wild Card series at Cleveland on Tuesday, the stench of letting the division title slip away will linger. It will only smell worse if the Tigers lose in the first round of the MLB playoffs to the team that ripped the division crown away.

This wasn’t the scenario that Detroit and its fans envisioned earlier in the season. On July 8, the Guardians were 15.5 games behind the Tigers . Entering September, Cleveland was 10.5 games behind Detroit and was still one game behind Kansas City in the division.

But the Tigers blew the biggest September lead since the beginning of divisional play. Per MLB.com, the Guardians overcame the largest deficit ever to win a division or

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