Twins, Tigers set for 1-game playoff in AL Central

Before Albert Pujols(notes) and Manny Ramirez(notes) start their postseason round of home run derby, rookie Rick Porcello(notes) and Scott Baker(notes) will make their pitches for the playoffs.

The Detroit Tigers and Minnesota Twins sent the AL Central race to yet another one-game tiebreaker, winning Sunday on the final day of the regular season.

They’ll meet Tuesday at 5 p.m. EDT at the Metrodome in what could be the last baseball game at the Homer Hankie haven. The 20-year-old Porcello (14-9) starts for the Tigers against Baker (15-9).

“He’s been young all year and he pitched awful good against Minnesota the other day,” Detroit manager Jim Leyland said. “I know one thing for a fact— he will not be scared. He’ll be excited.”

This marks the second straight year a one-game playoff will decide the division. Last season, the Twins lost 1-0 at Chicago.

After Detroit beat Chicago 5-3, Minnesota downed Kansas City 13-4 to create the tiebreaker. The Twins won 16 of their last 20, and overcame a three-game deficit by winning their last four.

“Everybody’s written us off and rightfully so,” Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said. “We looked pretty ugly. But we didn’t write ourselves off and that’s all that matters.”

The teams get an extra day off—not for travel, but because Brett Favre and the Minnesota Vikings host Green Bay on Monday night. Because of that, the logistics could become complicated.

The New York Yankees, holding home-field advantage throughout the postseason, can choose whether they want to start the playoffs against the Twins-Tigers winner on Wednesday or Thursday. The tricky part: The Yankees get one hour after the tiebreaker to announce their decision.

That means a quick turnaround for the AL Central champ if, as expected, New York picks to play Game 1 at Yankee Stadium on Wednesday at 6 p.m. EDT.

“It’s strange,” Yankees star Alex Rodriguez(notes) said. “That’s what’s great about baseball. Play 162 and you’re going to need one more game. That’s pretty awesome.”

Boston will open at the Los Angeles Angels in the other best-of-five AL matchup, either Wednesday or Thursday.

The National League first-rounders begin Wednesday—wild card Colorado at the World Series champion Philadelphia Phillies by day, then Pujols and St. Louis playing Ramirez and the Los Angeles Dodgers at night.

Ryan Howard(notes) and the East champion Phillies went 4-2 this season against Troy Tulowitzki(notes) and the Rockies. It’s a playoff rematch from 2007, when Colorado streaked into the playoffs and swept Philadelphia in the first round.

“They were playing so well. I don’t care who they were playing. Up to that point, no one in the NL could stop them,” Phillies center fielder Shane Victorino(notes) recalled. “They came in and walked right through us in three games.”

The Rockies trailed the Dodgers by 15 1/2 games on June 3, a week after Jim Tracy replaced fired manager Clint Hurdle.

“When you’re in, anything can happen. I think a lot of teams proved that,” Tulowitzki said. “We proved that in ’07 as a wild card team when we got to the World Series. You just want to get in there. Obviously it would have been nice to win the division and it would be cool to say we won the West. But we’re still in.”

While the Rockies surged into the playoffs, the Dodgers and Cardinals struggled at the end. Los Angeles ended its longest losing streak of the year at five on Saturday night by beating Colorado for the West title.

St. Louis was 5-2 against the Dodgers this season, with Chris Carpenter(notes) winning twice.

Pujols led the majors with 47 homers, but hasn’t hit one in 79 at-bats since Sept. 9. Ramirez, the career postseason home run leader with 28, hasn’t connected in 31 at-bats.

“I think we’ve lost an edge here and there, but I don’t think we’ve lost a lot of edges,” Cardinals manager Tony La Russa said. “I think we’re going to be a very difficult club to play against. But we were in position to win enough games and get home field, and you can’t just brush that aside.”

The Red Sox-Angels pairing is a familiar one—Boston eliminated the Angels three times in the first round during the previous five years. It happened the last two seasons, and overall those matchups haven’t been close, with the Red Sox winning nine of 10 games.

The Angels went 5-4 against Boston this season.

“What happened previously has no bearing on the matchups being created and the challenges now,” Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. “Last year, these guys got a lot of experience. Hopefully we’re going to bring our game onto the field. That’s really our first goal, play the way we can and make the other team step up and play better.”

AP Sports Writers Dan Gelston in Philadelphia, R.B. Fallstrom in St. Louis and Janie McCauley in San Francisco contributed to this report.