The Detroit Tigers are currently locked in on their matchup with the Seattle Mariners, but last week’s series win over the Cleveland Guardians is still fresh in their minds.

Cleveland had been a thorn in Detroit’s side — first knocking them out of the 2024 postseason, then stealing the AL Central title this year after Detroit’s late-season collapse. But the Tigers finally got payback by edging them out in a tight Wild Card series, and that momentum carried into Saturday night’s ALDS opener, where they beat the Mariners in extra innings.

“I don’t know if it was a sigh of relief or what, but we feel really free,” right fielder Kerry Carpenter told FS1 after the 3-2 win. “The crowd was incredible, but we stayed fearless and just played our game.”

Detroit fell behind early before Carpenter launched a two-run homer in the fifth to take the lead. Even though the offense went quiet for five innings, the bullpen held strong until Zach McKinstry drove in Spencer Torkelson with a walk-off single up the middle.

After Rafael Montero allowed the tying run in the sixth, relievers Tyler Holton, Tommy Kahnle, Kyle Finnegan, Will Vest and Keider Montero combined for six shutout innings — giving up only two hits, no walks and striking out four.

“We’ve been in a lot of games like this lately,” catcher Dillon Dingler said. “It says a lot about our bullpen. They’ve been keeping us in games all year and slamming the door when it matters.”

Tigers fans may be stressed watching all these nail-biters, but the team has become elite in one-run games. Detroit led MLB with a 21-12 record in one-run contests during the regular season and has now won two more in the postseason by a single run.

McKinstry admitted afterward that the Tigers don’t prefer these tight games — but no matter how close it gets, they’re not backing down from playing tough, resilient and loose.